Finding Emma
by Buni1995
Summary: *SPOILERS* if you haven't seen the season 4 finale. Picks up right where the episode ended, this is basically me speculating on season 5/trying to get through the cliffhanger/hiatus. Captain Swan (some Snowing and Outlaw Queen to match the show) . I own nothing.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I've never uploaded anything before but after that finale I just had to get something down to settle my mind a bit! I hope anyone who reads this enjoys, and if you want me to continue please leave a comment!**

 **I don't own any of the Once Upon a Time material/characters.**

Emma Swan. The name was written quite clearly on the dagger of the Dark One as David gingerly picked it up off the street.

"Where did she go?" Snow's voice seemed raw and worried; David knew how much it hurt for them to see their daughter disappear from them, after they had just earned her forgiveness.

"The only person who could answer that question is probably dead in his shop." Regina came out of the Robin's embrace to take a closer look at the dagger in David's hands.

"Not the only person, the apprentice might know something." David thought the man had seemed well versed in magic; certainly, if he was powerful enough to release Rumpelstiltskin from the curse of the Dark One then he could just as easily save Emma.

"You want to trust him, after he chose to save Gold and damn Emma to taking his place." Regina took the dagger from his hands and began to turn it around in her hands.

"Can we use the dagger to call her back?" Now Snow came over to see her daughter's name on the dagger in Regina's hands.

"Who knows where she could be or if the call could reach her or if she'd be able to get here? Gold couldn't cross realms as the Dark One and if Emma's left Storybrooke then we'll need much stronger magic to get to her and get her back here."

"Regina's right. I saw Rumpelstiltskin when he was in New York, the magic of the dagger couldn't have touched him out there." Robin came up beside his true love.

"That's assuming she's out there. There are any number of other realms she could be in."

"Well then, _what_ do you suppose we bloody well do Regina?" David looked up to see Hook, no, Killian now, as he finally seemed to get ahold of himself to come join their huddle.

"Regina, you need to get Henry. Tell him what happened, he's the author now, right? Maybe he can do something to help." At least, David had to hope his grandson's new title could do something for them.

Regina nodded and grabbed Robin's hand, "what will you be doing?"

"Snow and I will go back to Gold's shop to get Belle up to speed," he turned to Killian and handed him the dagger, "here. Take this, I think aside from Henry, you're the one Emma would trust most with this. I know you'll protect it, protect her, better than anyone."

"Aye." Killian nodded once at David's remark and gingerly took the dagger from his hands, carefully placing it within the inside pocket of his jacket.

"I'm going to the library. Perhaps I'll be able to find something there that will help us. Will you ask Belle to join me when she's finished?"

* * *

Emma Swan woke in light.

The dark one's magic which had swallowed her whole, she could now feel coursing through her veins, it seemed to weigh on her very soul. She opened her eyes slowly, every muscle tingling, every movement she made she tried to decipher if it was somehow different from before.

The room was bright, light bounced through the walls and reflected back into her eyes. She appeared to be in a cave made of diamond or gemstone. The walls were crystal, she could see her own reflection staring back at her, and she gazed around. It reminded her of a carnival hall of mirrors she had once gone through while she was in the care of one her foster families.

The reflective nature of the crystals, though beautiful, made it hard to discern the dimensions of the cave. Like in the hall of mirrors, any movement she made could result in a run in with the wall.

"How did I get here," Emma carefully arranged herself in a sitting position, cautious of her new surroundings, "and is there a way out?"

A quick examination of the space revealed that while she did have some room to walk around in, it wasn't much bigger than the prison cell she had in Portland. Worse, her exploration of her crystal prison also revealed no way of getting out by any passage or opening. She was stuck.

 _Use magic._

The thought occurred to her that seeing as how her magic capabilities had just greatly increased she ought to be able to poof out the cave, like Rumple or Regina. Emma closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment on where she wanted to be, thinking of Henry, her parents, Killian, of Storybrooke, granny's diner, and…nothing happened. She tried relaxing and focusing on her emotions, still nothing.

"You're not going to get out like that, Dark One." A booming voice came down from above her.

 _Where the hell am I?_ Emma wondered to herself, yet again.

* * *

"Damn you Swan." Killian muttered to himself as he leafed through one of the numerous texts he had piled on the desk in front of him. Belle had yet to arrive to help him.

"What sort of a woman waits to tell a man she _loves_ him until she's about to disappear? Bloody Emma Swan. That woman will be the death of me." Emma had finally admitted how she felt to him, and not only had she immediately followed that by disappearing into thin air but her disappearance gave Killian no time to tell her he reciprocated the feeling. He was sure Emma knew. She must know. But then, she was Emma and for all his Swan was and intelligent, powerful woman, Killian knew Emma needed to hear him say it too. But first he needed to find her.

And if there was one thing Killian would always do, it was find his Swan.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the positive feedback! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter:)**

 **I own nothing!**

Henry's fingers tapped on the table he sat at in Granny's Diner. He wondered if his family had made it in time to stop the darkness. His uncle, baby Neal, cooed quietly from his stroller next to Henry.

"Don't worry Henry, I'm sure they'll be back soon." Ruby placed a steaming cup of hot chocolate in front of him and after adjusting the blankets swathing Neal, walked back toward the kitchen.

 _I'm not worried_ , he thought. He knew if anyone could save the day it was his family of heroes. Even his mom, Regina, once the evil Queen, had finally established herself as a hero in Storybrooke. The town was finally accepting that, after their recent return from the backwards enchanted forest.

Henry wished he could talk to the Apprentice some more. If he was the author now, even without the pen which he knew gave too much power to one person, maybe he had other abilities that he could use to help. He was tired of being left behind as if he were…well as if he were baby Neal, while everyone he loved went off to fight evil.

The door slammed closed as someone came in. Henry looked up to see Regina followed by Robin standing before him.

"Henry," she began, and he knew from her face that whatever had happened, the crisis was far from over, "something's happened."

* * *

"Where am I? Come on! Answer me, I know you're there!" Emma yelled for what felt like the hundredth time as she paced the small confines of her crystal prison.

The voice which had called to her earlier when she had tried to escape, had since not made a reappearance. However, Emma was sure that whoever it was they were still there somewhere beyond the walls of her cell. It was almost as if she could sense them watching her.

"You said I couldn't get out that way. Which means there must be _some_ way out of here." She threw herself at one the walls, not for the first time, she was probably developing a bruise from hitting the crystal so much. It would be worth it if she could just break through.

 _Use magic._

She had already tried magic and it didn't work. So why was that thought still in her head?

Emma wondered if she was still in Storybrooke. She didn't know what happened after the darkness had swallowed her up. Maybe it had erected this barrier to protect itself from the Apprentice trying to imprison it again.

 _No one can take it from me._

Emma shook herself from the thought.

 _I didn't think that._ She had only just accepted her own light powers, and even though she was learning to control them she still carried the nagging feeling that one day they might get out of hand and hurt someone. Now she also carried the Dark One's magic and Emma wanted nothing more than to be rid of it, even if it had yet to do anything to her or anyone she loved. Except apparently lock her up.

That didn't make sense though, if the magic wanted to avoid imprisonment then why would it imprison her. Henry would know, he had probably read all about the Dark One in his story book, how Rumpelstiltskin had acquired the magic, what had happened to him after, everything she would now have to face.

She hoped Henry was okay. When she had decided that the only way to save Regina from the darkness was to sacrifice herself, part of her had been thinking of Henry. If he lost his other mother again, after she had worked so hard to redeem herself and Emma had stood by and done nothing she would never have forgiven herself.

As she paced the floor of her prison, for what felt like hours or days, she thought more and more of her family. She was sure that she could count on them to protect Henry, Regina would never let anything happen to him. Except, Henry was the author now, he could very well have magic of his own. It was strange to remember him as that young boy who had shown up at her apartment door on her birthday.

Now Henry was becoming a man, without her.

Emma thought of her parents. She was confident they would find her. That's what they were known for. She wished she hadn't spent so much time being mad at them when they were only trying to protect her.

 _But they lied to you._

That was true. They hadn't loved her enough to tell her the truth before. They had told countless lies to her to protect their secrets. Hell, they had sent her through a wardrobe to another world when she was barely an hour old. And when she had only just gotten them back, hadn't they replaced her with another baby. They would do right by Neal in ways they never had for Emma. What kind of parents were they to her? How could she ever trust them?

Wait. That wasn't right. Emma had forgiven her parents, she knew they loved her just as much as they loved Neil, and she loved them and her baby brother too. So why was it suddenly so easy for her to forget that?

Emma wished Killian was here. He was always able to make things clear for her, to calm her down, he understood her like no one else.

She had told him she loved him only seconds before she allowed the darkness to take her. She had tried to tell him earlier, at the loft. She wanted to but she had chickened out at the last second, part of her still scared of what it would mean to admit to him that she _loved_ him. Killian had proven so far that he was an adept survivor, but watching him die in the alternate story, while forcing her to come to terms with how she felt, also revealed how much it would hurt if she ever lost him. Once she told him how she felt, everything would be real and Emma didn't have a good track record with the people she loved when things got real.

Emma knew that when she finally told him how she felt it was because she couldn't sacrifice herself, leaving him, without letting him know she loved him. At least that was her main motivation; maybe she also thought that it was easier to tell him then, when she was leaving him. There was no risk because they were already doomed.

But she had to believe he would find her and save her. This wasn't another Neal or Walsh. They had faced so much together, she had to believe in that.

Her family would find her. No matter how much time she spent stuck here, Emma knew she had to keep hope. She would keep trying to break free and hope would keep her from succumbing to darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I apologize if there's been any weird notifications with this story, like I said, this is the first story I've ever written on here so I'm still trying to work out how everything works. Again, thank you so much to those of you who have followed/favorited/reviewed this story! If it wasn't evident yet, this will be a multi-chapter fic, I hope that it helps you get through this hiatus as much as it has been helping me (and it's only been 2 days GAH!).**

 **I do not own any of the OUAT characters/material!**

When Emma had told Henry to go back to Granny's and make sure everyone was safe, after they had learned of the sorcerer Merlin, he didn't think that was going to be the last time he saw her.

Part of him was angry with his biological mother. She had sent him off on what was really babysitting duty to keep him out of the way while she dove head first into danger. He wondered if he could have done something. What would have happened if he had just disobeyed her order, and had followed her and Hook onto the street? Even without the pen, surely being an author would have allowed him to do something.

"Henry. I know Miss Swan and I haven't gotten along in the past, but I promise you I never wished this on her. I didn't ask her to sacrifice herself." Regina and Robin now sat across from him in his booth at Granny's just as they had all sat their earlier in celebration, only now their moods were much bleaker.

"I know mom." Henry had remained mostly silent while Regina had explained what had happened to Emma. Regina thought he might be angry with her for letting it happen, "I should have been there."

Regina looked to Robin, "Would you mind taking Neal to his parents, I'm sure they'd like to be with him now." Her eyes told Robin she needed to speak with her son alone.

"Of course." He gently kissed her lips before getting up, grabbing Neal's stroller, and heading out of Granny's diner and onto the streets of Storybrooke.

"Emma was right to send you here. No one could know what the darkness would do, it might have gone back for Gold, or the Apprentice, or even you. You're the author now Henry, we're all still trying to understand what that means." Regina reached across the table to take his hand, only for Henry to pull away.

"It's not like I was any safer coming back here."

"What could you have done? If anything had happened to you do you think Emma would have been able to forgive herself, do you think I could?"

Henry knew part of Regina was thinking about the last day, or days if you counted the time he had spent in the alternate story. While they had all escaped unscathed, Henry had seen Regina and Emma's reaction to his tale of finding the town deserted, stealing a car, confronting Isaac, the ogre, traveling through the Enchanted Forest by himself, for the first time Henry had felt like a real hero. His mothers on the other hand, one after seeing the man she loved die and the other after nearly dying herself, Emma and Regina were less enthused about Henry's adventure and more upset that it had happened in the first place.

"Look, I know you guys want to protect me but I'm not a kid anymore and I-"

"But you are, Henry. And I'm still your mother. Which means I need to protect you. Now, I know these last few days have been hard, but I promise you Henry, we will find Emma and we will cure her. Everything is going to be alright."

It was clear to Henry that he would not be able to easily convince his mother to let him fight evil with his Charming family.

"Is the Apprentice awake yet? I want to talk to him." Surely, with all the magic the man possessed he must know something about what happened to Emma.

"I don't think that will be possible tonight. He took a serious hit. David is going to call me with updates and then maybe tomorrow you can speak to him." Henry nodded in reply.

Tomorrow he would speak with the Apprentice but tonight he would check the book. Surely there must be something recorded about Rumpelstiltskin's conversion to the Dark One that could help him find Emma.

* * *

"Belle?" Belle turned around when she heard David call her name.

"Did you find the—what happened?" David had Snow wrapped in his arms as they entered. Belle could see she had been crying, was still crying, and David didn't look so far from it himself.

"Emma sacrificed herself to save Regina. She's become the new Dark One." Belle glanced back at Rumple, who was still lying motionless on the floor.

"I'm so sorry. That magic…it's toxic. You saw what it did to Rumple. I'm sure it was a shock to see Emma that way." Rumple's desire to retain his power had kept them from their happiness, as the Dark One no matter how hard he tried he would never make the right choices to be happy. All of his actions, to preserve their happiness, only led to ruin.

"We didn't. She disappeared into thin air." David walked with Snow over to the cot where the Apprentice was still lying. He pulled a chair over for his wife to sit down.

"All that was left was the dagger. She's gone." Snow's voice sounded broken and Belle's heart ached for her friend. Although she had never really known Snow White before the curse, in past years they had worked together many times to save the town and Belle knew how hard losing Emma, again, must be for the couple.

"What can I do? There's not much here I'm afraid on the Dark One, I've catalogued nearly every item in this shop. Anything Rumple had on his own magic is either hidden or gone." _Rumple himself might not even wake up to help them_ , it was a thought that hurt her to think.

"Killian's gone to the library to see if he can find anything. He wanted us to ask you to join him," David laid his hand on the Apprentice's forehead, and then adjusted the blanket around him, "We were hoping either the Apprentice or Gold might be in a better condition to help us."

"They've been like this since you left I'm afraid but of course I can go help Killian at the library. Could one of you stay here to make sure they're okay?" Belle grabbed her coat off the table she had set it on while she was waiting for the heroes to return.

"I can stand guard here." David replied at the same instant Snow said, "I need to go get Neal."

"Already here." Everyone turned their heads as Robin Hood entered the shop; baby Neal asleep in his stroller. Snow White leapt from her chair to pick up her young son while David turned to Robin.

"How's Henry?"

"He took it as well as can be expected, the poor boy's been through much these last few days. I imagine Regina will want to keep him close."

Belle watched Snow coo her son and she remembered another baby, in the alternate Enchanted Forest. It might have all been a lie but her life there had been happy. She had had her husband as his best self, a home, a child; it was everything she could ever want. Neal made Belle miss the family she could have had, if Rumple had been a different man when he married her. Now, she wasn't sure if her husband would ever wake up again.

"Thank you Robin, for bringing him here." Snow's voice was soft, quiet so as not to wake the baby in her arms.

"My pleasure. Now I think I'll be returning to Regina."

"I'll walk with you," Belle said as he opened the shop door, "I'm heading that way anyhow."

* * *

"You're husband, will he be alright?" Robin asked as they made their way through town.

"I don't know." Belle replied, his breathing hadn't improved in the time since the darkness was sucked out of his heart. She worried that it had been too much for him, that now he was giving up on his life, on her, "I heard you were expecting another child, congratulations."

"Ah, thank you," Robin stuffed his hand in his pockets, "I may not like how it's come about, but Roland has been everything in my life. I can't deny that I've always wanted another child."

"I had a child in the other world. A boy. He was the most beautiful child I had ever seen. I envy you." Belle smiled sadly.

"You'll have your chance one day. Now that he's no longer the Dark One, perhaps Rumpelstiltskin will be able to settle down."

"Perhaps."

They walked in silence for a bit.

Belle imagined that no stranger looking at the quiet, peaceful town would ever had guessed that it had faced so much evil. Even tonight, good and evil had fought and yet walking through town would reveal nothing to anyone who didn't know what had occurred.

They were a few blocks from the clock tower when they went their separate ways. Belle promising she'd keep Regina and Robin updated on what she and Killian found in the library. Robin promising he'd tell Henry she was doing her best for Emma.

* * *

Regina could see the light on in Henry's room through the bottom of his door as she walked down the upstairs hall. _That boy_ , she thought to herself, _he's going to be up reading for hours._

When they had gotten back from Granny's Diner Henry had immediately left her and holed himself up in his room. Regina could hear him muttering to himself and the distinct noise of many pages turning in book. She figured he would be scouring his storybook for answers. It wasn't a bad plan.

For all the years, she had spent in Rumpelstiltskin's company he had never told her about his becoming the Dark One. It had just been something he always was, since before she was born. Even when she had been the Evil Queen and had her spies uncovering his secrets, she had only discovered Belle, nothing about the greater workings of his curse or his dagger.

Regina wondered if maybe she should have taken the dagger herself, perhaps she could work some magic on it, a locator spell, or some other test to see what effect it might have. Of course, she didn't know what the backlash would be with something so powerful.

A chill ran down her spine as she recalled the feeling of being trapped in the whirlwind of darkness. How it had felt like suffocating as the darkness tried to pull the light from her. Emma's parents had ensured she had no potential for darkness, which meant that there was much more light in her that would need to be snuffed. Maybe Emma could hold out for a few days, wherever she was. As long as she could resist the darkness, it would be easier to remove it from her.

No, it was better not to mess with things they didn't understand, at least for now. Magic was tricky even for someone like her who had been using it for many years. Caution would be the safest path, especially since it was Emma who the darkness now controlled, the savior who needed saving.

Regina reached the front door of her home, and opened it to see Robin waiting on her doorstep.

"I thought you would've gone back to Roland tonight." When she had asked him to take Neal back to the Charmings she expected him to return to his son. Not that she was displeased to see him—her true love, there for her.

"He's well looked after. Tonight, I think I should be with you." Robin wrapped his arms Regina and for the first time in a long time, she let herself go and relied on the strength of the man she loved.

* * *

In his room, a frustrate Henry continued to flip through the pages of his book. For a man who was involved in so many of the storybook tales there was very little on Rumpelstiltskin himself or the dark one who preceded him. Henry knew Gold had killed the Dark One before him to gain his power and from what his father had told him, becoming the Dark One had changed Rumple from a weak, but well-meaning man into the powerful and manipulative man they all knew him to be.

The next page Henry saw was the drawing of his mother during her time in the Enchanted Forest after going through Zelena's time portal. He paused a moment to look at the picture, Emma in her red ball gown dancing with Killian, although both were disguised.

Henry wondered if his mother would remember who he was next time he saw her. Or would she still love him the same? The Emma he knew put the people she cared about above everything else. And while he was still mad at her for not taking him with her to face the darkness, not allowing him to say goodbye before she allowed herself to be taken from him, it didn't mean he didn't love her.

Regina was right when she said they only wanted to protect him. He was grateful for that, but the time had come for him to help her.

He couldn't look at the picture any longer so he tossed the book aside, muttering, "This isn't the story I need."

 _This_ isn't. That didn't mean the story didn't exist somewhere else. The Apprentice had said that an author's job was to record the truth, that that's what the storybook was.

Maybe Henry just had the wrong book for the truth he needed.

* * *

Killian set another book on top of the rapidly growing column he was forming at the library. When he first arrived he thought to pull out all the books he had used in the weeks he was working with Belle to free the fairies. After a quick scan of the few who's names he could remember he realized that he needed the librarian a lot more than he thought.

But then he remembered what the Apprentice had said about the sorcerer Merlin. So he pulled a chair up to the magic box and began attempting a search on the sorcerer's name.

Which is how Belle found him muttering to himself as he attempted to type with his hook and his index fingers.

"Let me do it. What are you looking for?" She said as she took her coat off and draped it on the table next to his stack of books. She shook her head at the soon to be teetering pile and came over to the computer.

"I've been trying to use this blasted thing to search for Merlin but I can't seem to get it to do anything."

"That's because you don't even have the internet open."

If Emma were here, she'd laugh at his lack of knowledge on modern technology. _But she's not and you need to do better to find her_ , he thought to himself. With every minute that went by after her disappearance, he worried that the Emma he would find would be a very different woman than the one who loved him.

Killian had hunted the Dark One for centuries and the thought of Emma becoming anything like the crocodile was enough to make his blood boil.

"How do I open it?" He stood up to look for an opening on the box.

Belle shook her head and he stepped aside to allow her to do it.

"There. Google. Now, shall see what comes up when I type Merlin?" He nodded his head and they both turned their attention to the screen.


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own the Once Upon a Time characters/material!**

David woke with a crick in his neck and a numb arm from his position, sleeping in a chair in the back room of Gold's Shop. He had sent Snow home with Neal hours ago, claiming there was no point in both of them staying here all night, and that Neal should sleep at home in his crib.

Now he glanced over at the two to other men in the room, both still in comatose states, while he stretched, early morning light just illuminating the room.

Gold, who was still on the floor but had now been moved the back room and arranged with a blanket and a pillow, showed no change. Of course, that was the effect of the spell the Apprentice placed on him, so that he could recover.

The Apprentice on the other hand, looked much better this morning than he had after he was taken over by the Dark One last night. The color had returned to his cheeks and his breathing had evened out.

David located his phone sitting on Gold's work table and thought it might be a good idea to check in with Killian and Belle at the library.

"David?" He suddenly heard Snow call from the front of the shop, leaving the phone where it rested and with one more look around the back room, he headed out toward the front of the shop and his wife.

"Sorry, I was in the back," he said and leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"How are they?"

"The Apprentice seems to be doing better. I'm hopeful he'll wake up any minute. Where's Neal?"

"I asked Granny to watch him, so I could come help. Do you think Belle and Killian found anything at the library?" She moved to head toward the back room, David following behind her.

"I don't know, I was just about to call and check in when you came in," He said as they entered, moving toward his phone on the table.

"I doubt they found anything there." Both David and Snow turned at the sound of the Apprentice's voice. His eyes were open although he was still lying in his cot, his body arching so he could cough.

"Oh thank god! We didn't know how long you were going to be out, how are you feeling? Do you need anything? Water?" Snow went over to the man to help him sit up.

"No, thank you. I just need a minute to collect myself."

"Of course," Snow said nodding her head.

"I'll call Hook and tell him you're awake." David said, dialing as he left the room

"What happened to the darkness?" The Apprenticed asked Snow.

"I'm afraid things didn't get much better after you collapsed."

"Is it still out there? We must—", he began to rise from his cot but Snow gently pushed him back down.

"No…Emma figure out that the Dark One needed a tether, she sacrificed herself." Snow looked down as she spoke; the image of her daughter disappearing into the night had been on replay in her mind since it had happened.

"Where is she now?"

"Gone. It swallowed her up and she disappeared." The Apprentice had a grave look on his face.

"Then things are worse than I feared."

At that moment, David re-entered the room, "Belle and Hook should be on their way. Has Snow told you about Emma?"

"If she's disappeared, that's a very bad sign. It means there's other magic at work." He shook off Snow's hand.

"Other magic? What kind of magic?"

"As I told your daughter last night, the only person with enough power to destroy the Dark One for good is my master, Merlin. However, other sorcerers out there will be looking for the Emma now that she is the Dark One. Now it is even more imperative you find Merlin. "

David put a hand on Snow's shoulder, "So we find Emma. Once we do, how do we separate her from the Dark One before we let this Merlin destroy it?"

"I know of only two ways to separate the Dark One from its tether, the most common of course, is stabbing the Dark One in the heart with the dagger." Snow and David both cringed. They had promised to remove the darkness from Emma but not at the cost of her life.

"What's the other way?"

"Why, true love's kiss."

* * *

Killian set the cup of coffee down in front of the sleeping Belle before nudging her with his hook.

The two of them had been up all night collecting all the information they could find on Merlin. Killian figured that without the aid of the Apprentice or Rumpelstiltskin Emma's location may be a mystery, however, that wouldn't stop him from searching for Merlin and a way to stop Emma's curse. Unfortunately, for all of their searching, Belle and Killian were only able to discern that Merlin came from a land called Camelot, a place that had fallen to darkness, and that he hadn't been seen in hundreds of years.

"What—did you find something?" Belle murmured as she woke up, rubbing the mark on her face that was left behind from the book she had been sleeping on.

"Nothing on Merlin, I'm afraid. But, the Prince just called with news on the Apprentice and the crocodile."

"Are they alright?" She immediately straightened.

"They're fine. It appears the Apprentice is awake and a talking. David thinks he might even be able to revive your husband."

"Oh, of course." Belle stood and began to collect her things.

Killian waited for her silently, he leafed through a few of the pages in the last book she had been flipping through before her exhaustion caught up with her.

"You're awfully quiet this morning. Were you up all night?"

"Aye."

"You don't have to come you know. No one would blame you. What he did to you when he was the Dark One…was _awful_."

Killian grimaced, "Powers or no, the crocodile knows what we're up against. He might have information on Emma."

"I've been wondering…if…if now that he's no longer the Dark One, if Rumple will be very different."

"The magic gave him power; I doubt he'll be happy to find it's gone."

"He should be happy to be alive. You didn't see him before, he was _so_ …scared."

As awful as he knew the thought was, part of Killian wished Rumpelstiltskin had perished when his heart had gone back. Perhaps then, they would be facing an untethered Dark One, but at least he would have Emma by his side. After all the horrible things he had done, it wasn't fair that Rumpelstiltskin was saved at the cost of Emma.

However, Killian pushed these thoughts aside, there was no use questioning about the past. He had spent hundreds of years mourning the past when Milah had died; Emma was still alive and waiting for him. It was her choice to become the Dark One, to save them all.

"Then I'm sure seeing your face will be a comfort," he finally said to Belle as he turned to leave. Thinking again, about Emma as he had last seen her.

Belle nodded and followed him toward the door.

"Now then, shall we?" He said, holding the door for her.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I had originally intended to include this bit in the last chapter (which is why I've added the "previously" bit). Thank you again, to those of you who have followed/favorited this story so far and to those of you who've reviewed, I absolutely love hearing your responses and theories!**

 **As always, I do not own the OUAT characters or material.**

 _Previously…_

" _What's the other way?"_

" _Why, true love's kiss."_

* * *

"Ah, so you're awake." Killian called as he entered the back room, Belle following behind him. David and Snow looked at each other before standing to greet them, "Is Regina coming?"

"She should be on her way." David replied.

"Should we wait for her, I mean, will you be able to revive Rumple?" Belle addressed the Apprentice, who although being awake, was still sitting on the cot.

"I believe so." He stood and, after affirming that his legs would hold steady, appraised the man lying on the floor. Killian knew the Apprentice remembered his part in entrapping him in the hat, he wondered how he could put that aside so easily to help the crocodile now.

"He doesn't look any better than he did last night." Belle murmured as she bent down beside her husband.

"There's been no change as far as I could tell," David said coming behind her, "but I've never seen anything like what happened last night before."

"What I did last night has never been done before. If he weren't in immediate danger of dying I wouldn't have attempted it." The Apprentice waived a hand over Rumpelstiltskin's body and the air seemed to shimmer.

"That's why you won't do it for Emma." Snow said, joining the group around Rumpelstiltskin.

"That is correct. The Dark One's magic isn't meant to be separated that way. It won't work a second time."

The door to the shop chimed as Regina entered, "Glad to see you all waited for me, this time."

"You're just in time to see the crocodile's return." Killian leaned against one of the tables, close enough to see but still keeping his distance from the man on the floor.

"How will all this affect him?" Regina asked.

"His heart will be a blank slate; it will be his choice to choose the darkness or the light. Only time will tell." The Apprentice began to mutter strange words under his breath as his arms circled the air around Rumpelstiltskin. Belle took Rumpelstiltskin's hand in her own. Gradually, the Apprentice's words grew louder, his voice filling the room. The magic in the air was almost palpable, bottles were shaking on the tables, and several books fell off their shelves.

The Apprentice's eyes flashed and Rumple took a sudden deep breath, his hand gripping Belle's.

His eyes flashed open, wild, looking everywhere at once. He began to move somewhat violently.

"Shhhh, it's okay. You're safe." Belle said as she tried to restrain him.

"B-Belle?" Gold gasped, his hands pressing on his chest, realizing the pain was over he met her eyes and said, "You stayed."

"Of course I did." Her hand cupped the side of his face. Gold's eyes roamed around the room at the rest of the heroes watching them.

"I didn't think I would ever see you again."

"Well, I suppose you'll have to thank—", Regina began before she paused, looking around the room. The others glanced around with her, realizing the same thing:

The Apprentice was gone.

* * *

Henry waited until he heard the front door close and his mother leaving before he came out his room. He figured he had hours before his mother returned, having left undoubtedly to meet the rest of his family at Gold's shop. She had chosen to leave him behind, again, so knowing that when she returned he would get to speak with the Apprentice, Henry decided that until then he would go to the wizard's mansion to see what he could find.

The mansion is where he had found the library of empty books and it was where he had also found the key to Isaac's prison-page. If it truly was the wizard's mansion then there was a chance that it held other magic or clues to Emma's whereabouts.

Henry grabbed his bike and took off down the road.

* * *

"Well he's not out on the street or in the front." David said re-entering the back room of Gold's shop.

"Where the bloody hell did he go then?" Killian asked, moments ago the wizard had barely been on his feet, how did they all miss him leave?

"Perhaps he had other important business." Belle was still crouched next to a now sitting Rumpelstiltskin.

"He seemed pretty concerned with the darkness before." Snow said while moving closer to her husband.

"He's _probably_ gone back to his own home, seeing as how he's been trapped in that hat for eight weeks." Regina crossed her arms and leaned back on a table.

"And whose fault would that be." Killian muttered with a glare at Rumple.

"You're right; I was the one who trapped him there. I stole your heart and made you help and I'm sorry. I can see now that it was the Dark One working through me but that's no excuse for what I've done to you," Rumpelstiltskin said, addressing Killian and then the group, "to all of you."

The room remained silent.

"I can't help but feel like there's something you all haven't mentioned," Rumple went on glancing around the room, "where's Miss Swan?"

"When the Apprentice saved you he had to remove the darkness from your heart," Belle started, "he wanted to contain it within the hat but there was too much for the hat to contain. The Dark One's magic was uncontrollable."

"Well surely you must have found some way to control it, since I'm no longer the Dark One and the town still appears to be intact."

" _Emma_ became the new Dark One to save the town." David finished.

"I see." Rumple began to stand up, leaning somewhat on Belle to compensate for his bad leg, "well then, take me to her. I was the Dark One for long enough, perhaps I can try to talk to her."

"Or try to get your power back?" Killian griped. He knew starting a fight with the crocodile wouldn't help him find Emma but years of hatred and distrust didn't disappear in one night, Dark One or not.

"Why would want it back after it nearly killed me? Besides, for that I would need the dagger, which I'm sure one of you has safely hidden."

"And how long will it be until we find you searching for it?"

"Can we save the bickering for later?" Regina called, "During her conversion into the Dark One Emma disappeared."

"We were hoping you might know where she went." Snow said, finally speaking up.

"Disappeared? Disappeared how?"

"The darkness swallowed her up." David said.

"Do you remember what happened to you when you first became the Dark One?" Belle asked, laying her hand on Rumple's shoulder.

"I remember quite well when I became the Dark One," Rumple gazed down at the floor, "but I'm afraid the magic didn't transport me anywhere."

Killian let out a half laugh, "Brilliant. Emma could be anywhere after saving _your_ life and you're no help at all." He shook his head and left the shop, the door slamming behind him.

"I'll go try to talk to him."

"He's probably just overly tired; I don't think he slept much last night." Belle murmured.

David nodded as he followed Killian's path out the door.

"Well," Snow began, "Regina, why don't you and I go…get Henry? I'm sure he'd like to see you, now that you're better." She motioned to Rumple.

"Fine." Regina agreed.

Regina and Snow left the shop, leaving Belle and Rumpelstiltskin alone inside.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you for reading! For those of you wondering what Emma is up to, you'll see her again in the next chapter:)**

 **I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters!**

After wandering through the wizard's manor for at least an hour, Henry wondered if maybe he should have waited to bring his mother or Mr. Gold with him. The place was huge and any of the rooms could have secret doors like the one leading to the storybook library. Henry tried knocking on all the walls as he went around, looking for a hollow space but didn't find any. He thought maybe when he could come back later he would see if there were any classic hidden passage ways only found by pulling out books or pressing bricks in the fireplace, the stuff he saw in movies.

There was also the problem that Henry didn't really know how to identify a magical object. At least with his mom or Gold, he'd know whether the broom he was looking at was for sweeping or magic. Anything in the manor had the potential to be important from the pictures on the walls to the most mundane things in the kitchen, like a frying pan.

Henry figured that now that he had a general lay of the land he could look into what he really came for, the hidden library.

The first time Henry had entered the library, he'd be ecstatic about its discovery only to be let down when every book was blank.

Now, Henry was tentative as he entered. If this didn't work the way he thought it would, then he had no leads. He took one of the Storybook's off the shelves; it looked the same as all the others, including his own, with the title "Once Upon a Time" on the cover.

However, when Henry opened to the first page he was astonished to find that unlike his storybook or the blank ones he had seen before, this book had the words, "Alice in Wonderland", written on the first page inside. Flipping through he saw the entire book was filled with stories and the picture showed plenty of faces he didn't recognize and then some he did, of all people Will Scarlet and Cora. However, from just a glance, he could tell these were not the stories he had seen before.

Opening another book revealed, "Hercules and the Olympians", "Tarzan King of the Apes", "Bambi", all different from the stories in the book he carried in his backpack. Different realms, different characters, it was all right here finally available for him.

"I knew you'd come back here soon enough." Henry turned to see the Apprentice watching him from the entryway.

"Are they all filled?"

The Apprentice nodded.

"Why couldn't I read them before?"

"Since the authors first exited, they have been recording stories throughout time. They've filled these books with everything they've seen." The Apprentice ran his hands along the spines of the storybooks on the shelves. "But this is a private collection. It's safer for everyone that the stories of these other realms remain private."

"Why did he create the authors in the first place, Merlin, I mean? Why does he need this 'collection'?"

The Apprentice sighed and took a seat at one of the desks, "you'll have to ask him that yourself, when you find him."

"Don't you know where he is?" If this was Merlin's Apprentice then he must know where his teacher was, otherwise how could they communicate?

"Merlin and I only ever spoke using our magic, but even if I did know where he was I couldn't tell you." Henry took a seat across from him at the desk. The Apprentice folded his arms and leaned back, watching Henry process.

Henry was willing to bet that Merlin played a part in several if not all of the stories in this room. A man so deeply involved couldn't always hide behind the scenes. So maybe what Henry needed to do to find Merlin was just look for him, or signs of his interference in the storybooks.

"You were willing to help us before, why not anymore?"

"I was instructed to keep Isaac Heller from further interference after what happened with your grandparents. Once it became clear he could no longer be an author, I needed to find the next author—you. Outside of that, it's not my place to interfere."

"Merlin seems to interfere. He created the Dark One, without him most of these stories probably wouldn't exist."

The Apprentice seemed to ignore Henry's response. He got up from the desk and began heading toward the door.

"Wait! What if I have more questions, you haven't really explained to me what I'm supposed to be doing now!" Henry called after him.

The Apprentice paused at the door and smiled back at Henry, "I trust you will be able to figure that out when the time comes." And in a blink he vanished.

Henry looked down at the storybooks in front of him, then back around the room. He was meant to be here, that he was sure of. His gut was telling him that something in one of these books was important to figuring out Merlin.

He cracked open the first one and began reading.

* * *

Belle watched her husband sit on the cot in the back room while she poured him a cup of tea. Since waking, he had shown none of his previous signs of a failing heart and had been mostly apologetic for his actions against her in the past. Not that he hadn't seemed apologetic before, but now things were different. Rumple no longer had magic. Belle didn't know whether to hope that things could be better now between them or to worry that his new drive would be to get it back.

"Here you go." She handed him the warm cup, their fingers barely brushing.

"Thank you." He took a quick sip and set it aside. "Belle, you don't have to watch me. I have no desire to go running off after Miss Swan."

"I didn't think you did. You did nearly died though…so I'm not just going to leave you by yourself." She pulled a chair up next to the cot and sat down.

"What about Will?"

"I told you last night, I don't love Will. And I don't think Will loves me either."

"He seemed pretty confident about winning your heart the last time we spoke." When Regina stole her heart. Belle subconsciously placed a hand over her own heart, feeling the steady beat.

"Will and I…we were a comfort for each other, but Will is in love with somebody else," she paused before continuing, "And so am I."

"I've only ever wanted for us to be happy but the magic-I depended on it so much. Could you ever forgive me for the things I've done—how I've mistreated you."

"I want to. "

He took her hand in his and Belle hoped she wasn't wrong about him.

* * *

Killian paused once he was outside of Gold's Shop, clenching his fist, he felt like he wanted to punch someone or gut something with his hook. He knew that wouldn't help anyone but he didn't feel like he was helping anyone now. He felt dead tired. And heartbroken. And angry. Only yesterday he was with Emma, once again they had saved the town and now…

He was aware of David coming out of the shop, no doubt to convince him to come back inside and work with the crocodile. Killian didn't feel like talking to Emma's father at the moment though, so he trudged off away from the shop, David trailing behind.

"Hook!" He called to him. "Hook, come on!"

Killian ignored him. Maybe he would go back to his ship, some rest might clear his head. Once he rested, he could return to the library or go talk to Henry, Emma's lad. Henry had a right to know where he had hidden the dagger and he was probably the only person in Storybrooke Killian could trust its location with; Emma would want Henry to know.

"You know I want to find Emma just as much as you do, but running out of there doesn't help anyone—certainly not Emma!" Killian paused, David almost running into him.

"You think I don't know that?" Killian turned around to face him, "Look, mate, you may all think that now that he's no longer cursed he's changed but I don't bloody well believe it! I thought I could, for Emma, but _that_ _man_ is just the same—"

"But he's the only one of us that has any idea of what she's dealing with and I know it's a long shot and that trusting Gold is risky, but even after everything he's done if he knows anything that could help us save Emma, it's worth it."

Killian wanted to argue. He wanted to say that in the hundreds of years since he had first made Rumpelstiltskin's acquaintance nothing good had ever come from their relations.

But then he thought of Emma.

Emma was counting on them to find her and to free her from the Dark One's curse. Would that be possible without the crocodile? He was a wealth of magical knowledge that they needed right now.

If the deal was that he had to rely on his greatest enemy to save the woman he loved, perhaps it was a deal he had to make.

He let out a frustrated sigh.

"Aye," he finally said to David, "for Emma, it's worth it."

"Glad you agree. Now, why don't you go get some rest, you look like you need it."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Just a quick note, there's been a time jump that will be more evident in the next chapter. This chapter has been something I planned from the moment I decided this was going to a multi-chapter fic, so I hope you guys like where I'm taking this! Once again, thank you so much to those of you who have reviewed (I never expected such positive responses) and those who have favorited/followed!:)**

 **I do not own Once Upon a Time or its characters!**

* * *

In the alternate timeline that the author Isaac Heller had written, Emma Swan lived trapped in a tower for years after she called herself "the savior" and was dubbed a threat by Queen Snow White. Even though the memories of the years Emma had spent in her tower were false, she could still clearly remember each day from the first when she thrown in the highest tower without a second glance all the while screaming at her mother to remember her. The moment she was chained to the floors, she pulled on the chains at her wrists until her hands were bleeding. Her many failed attempts at escape which only made her relief greater when she finally escaped with Henry and Hook. Each excruciating year that went by where her only human contact was when Lily would open the door once a day to give her stale bread and water.

Emma remembered how at first she screamed in the hopes that someone would hear her and come to her aide but eventually she just screamed knowing no one who heard her would care.

Those were her false memories of days that had felt like years trapped and alone.

Now those memories resurfaced as she banged her hands on the crystal walls of her new prison. She shouted until her throat was raw. She tried throwing all the magic she could muster and still nothing would break her free.

When she had exhausted herself trying to escape Emma would stare at her own reflection in the crystal walls. She had yet to figure out why she was here, why the magic had taken her here. She expected her reflection to look different each time she gazed at herself.

Would her outward appearance reflect the darkness she had taken up?

Emma didn't feel like the Dark One. She still felt like herself, she felt like she was in control of her magic and her mind. From her experiences with Gold, she was conscious that she had no desire to rule the world or to amass power.

Emma just wanted to be free and to be with her family again.

So after she rested she would start over trying to get out using whatever force she had or she would call out to the voice she had heard before or to anyone who could potentially hear her.

After a while, Emma didn't know how long she had been there, was it hours? Days? Weeks? For all Emma knew it was years passing by again in solitude.

At first the thought of the people she loved, Henry, her parents, and Kilian kept her from going mad.

They were searching for her. They would break her out her. They loved her. They promised they would find her. She repeated these things over and over again keep her from going insane.

Henry would come up with some ridiculous operation codename like 'swan' or 'falcon' or 'phoenix' or well, Henry was better at coming up with names. He wouldn't stop until he found her either. Henry was driven like that.

Her parents, they were always torn apart just when they found each other. But that was the family motto, they always found each other. Her parents had faced so many curses and they still found a way to be happy. She could just picture her mother hugging her when they were reunited, she doubted they'd leave her alone for days.

Then there was Killian. He had fought to be with her and she had pushed him away for so long. Emma wondered if they ever figured a way out of this, if she ever got out of this cave, if things would finally settle down so they could be happy.

She tried to imagine the future she could have once this was all over, a little house by the sea, not too far from her parents and her brother but a place all her own. She could picture living there with Killian and Henry would have his own room for the days he didn't want to sleep at Regina's. They could be happy.

But then, Emma would wake up from her dreaming and see the reflective crystal walls and her dreams seemed to grow silly and impossible.

 _Will they ever be able to find me?_

 _Where are they?_

 _Are they even looking?_

Her faith in her family wavered as time went on. When she had been locked in her tower, she had hoped and believed that Henry would find her, knowing the rest of her family had been cursed. Even after years, she never doubted Henry. There might have been a time when she worried for his safety or wondered how he would get to her, but a part of her always believed he would find her and they would make everything alright. She never doubted that the heroes would eventually save the day.

Now she thought she might.

Henry had saved the whole of Storybrooke. He was the new author and she was so proud of him, but surely, that title came with new responsibilities? He would want to spend more time with the Apprentice who could teach him about his new skills. He would want to explore, find new stories, and leave her behind. He would be too busy to help her now.

 _But Henry's your son_ , she had to remind herself, _he'd make time for you._

Unless he was with his other mom. The one who raised him. Regina.

Regina never wanted to share Henry with Emma. She had even tried to kill her, multiple times. All Emma had ever done was try to be her friend and Regina had insisted they never would be. In fact, Emma's disappearance left Regina with everything she ever wanted, her son to herself and a new life with her true love. Why should Regina even tell Henry that Emma had been cursed?

For all Henry knew, Emma had just abandoned him, _like you abandoned him when he was born._

Just like her parents had abandoned her when she was born.

Her parents, the supposed _heroes_.

How many times had they failed her from the day she was born?

Emma had thought she could forgive them, thought she had forgiven them, but did she really? Should she? _What had they done to earn her forgiveness_ except lie to her again and again? They said they loved her but then they replaced her. They claimed to believe in her but they doubted so much that she would be good, they feared her so much, that they had to use magic to fix her.

They promised to save her and they failed. They weren't here. They were _never_ coming.

They would lie to Henry like they lied to her, so they could try to find her on their own but they wouldn't.

 _Nobody_ would.

Not even the man she thought she loved. How many times had he told her he was a survivor and how many times had he almost died since knowing her? Killian was better off without her, he was safer without her, and he probably knew it if he had such good survival instincts. For all the times he had shown her he cared about her, called her "love", he never actually said it. He never told her he loved her.

 _He said I was his happy ending._

But he also told her that villains don't get happy endings. Which meant what? That he couldn't be with her? That in the end he didn't actually think they were meant to be together. That maybe he always knew just as she did that he would leave her.

It had taken her so long to tell Killian how she felt about him but she should've known. _He's left you to rot._

Neal had left her to rot in a prison cell and now wasn't Killian doing the same thing?

A one handed pirate with a drinking problem—and she was naive enough to think she loved him and that he would find her.

Emma began to think of her dreams as far off fantasies. They were foolish thoughts that might have once comforted her but now only reminded her of the son who wasn't really hers, her parents who only ever had to find her because they kept leaving her, and the man she would never have.

She had screamed and cried and thrown herself at the wall enough times to bruise, she had scratched the crystal until her fingers bled, and she had exhausted herself throwing every magic Regina had taught her at it.

There was no relief.

Emma wasn't even sure there _was_ an escape to her prison.

The voice that had called to her before had since not made a second appearance, part of her wondered if she had imagined it the first time.

Emma covered her face with her hands, rubbing her fingers on her temples.

She needed to focus.

She should never have let her guard down.

She should never have thought she could have a family for a happy ending.

The only person she could rely on was herself.

Emma took a deep breath and pulled her focus. She wished she had never gone to Storybrooke in the first place.

No, that was a lie. She loved Henry, he was her son, but she wished she didn't have to share him with Regina. She had saved Regina when she stuck the dagger in the darkness and was swallowed up. It was Regina's fault she was here. It was even Regina's fault for casting the first curse causing her to be sent through the wardrobe, causing her to live as an orphan.

It was her parents who had sent her away. Her parents decided that they would rather live without her cursed in Storybrooke, where she would at least have had a chance at family.

It was Killian who would realize she was broken and leave her just like everyone else.

It was all too much for her.

 _Forget them._ Forget them all. All any of them did was disappoint her and keep her from her happiness. Wasn't she happy in New York when it was just her and Henry? Until Killian came knocking on the door because her parents needed saving. Again.

She was the savior but she never asked to be. She didn't want to be.

 _So don't be._

Why should she save anyone?

All she had ever wanted to do was take Henry away and be safe. But the town kept needing saving and they kept coming to her. These people kept ruining her life and then asking for help.

 _No more._

Emma was once again painfully aware of the power running through her veins. It seemed like the very air around her was electrified with it.

She knew she had the power to escape at her fingertips.

Emma closed her eyes and took another deep breath. Then, stretching out her arms she let go.

Emma gave in to the power running through her and felt it rush out of her fingertips like waves of electricity. It jolted through her and she let out a cry, releasing all her frustration in one sound. When she opened her eyes, the walls were gone. She was standing in a normal cave, with pieces of shattered crystal piled along the walls.

A woman was standing before her; she watched Emma with curious eyes before stating, "Good. I was wondering how long I'd be waiting for you."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I meant to upload this last night but this chapter for some reason was a bit harder to write (I'm still getting used to writing this type of material)! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, happy reading!**

 **I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of its characters!**

 _Morning light coming in through open windows woke Killian from a dreamless sleep. For a moment, he could just barely hear the lull of the ocean as the tide moved in and out on the shore along with the dull call of circling seagulls. He reached his right hand across the bed only to be surprised when he found cool sheets on the other side of the mattress._

That's not right _ **,**_ _he thought and after taking a moment to reattach his brace to his left arm, he threw off the sheets and got out of bed. "Emma?" he called._

" _Out here!" Came her reply from beyond the bedroom door._

 _Heading out into the kitchen, he was greeted by the site of Emma making eggs on the stove. Two cups of coffee were already set up on the counter next to their plates._

 _For a while he stood staring at her, her hair was curlier in the morning, which she might call 'bedhead' but he found incredibly appealing when it fell in waves down her back, and it glowed in the sunlight. She was still in her striped pajamas, the same ones he thought he remembered her in when he first found her in New York. It was hard for him to believe how far they had come from that moment._

 _He was listening to her light humming as she stirred the eggs in the pan, when she finally turned to him and said, "I thought I'd have breakfast ready before you woke up, I didn't know you were such an early riser."_

" _My time onboard the Jolly Roger taught me to rise with the sun," he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, "but now I suppose, it's just to make sure you aren't running off and disappearing in the night."_

 _She laughed as he nuzzled his face into her neck, tightening his arms around her._

" _You don't have to worry anymore." She said smiling, turning off the stovetop and turning around in his arms to face him. She caressed his cheek with one of her hands, "I'm not running."_

" _I'd despair if you did." She took that as her cue to lean up and kiss him, her lips were warm and inviting. It felt like home to be standing there, in their kitchen kissing her, her fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck and his arms pulling her tighter against him._

" _I love you." She said against his lips, and while his instinct was to reply in kind, something about the phrase felt wrong and the moment seemed to shatter._

" _What was that, love?" He found himself asking, pulling away from her slightly._

" _I said—," she started but then he found himself looking at a different scene._

 _He was no longer standing in the bright, warm kitchen of a house by the sea. Instead, he was standing in the middle of a cold, windy street in Storybrooke. The morning light which had given everything a happy glow before was now replaced by darkness._

 _The Emma in front of him now was no longer the glowing, happy woman he had seen making breakfast in her pajamas. She looked miserable, her eyes red-rimmed as if she were about to cry, her hair was blowing everywhere around her, and she was clinging to him and he to her as if at any moment the wind would carry her away. He wanted so much to take her into his arms and never let go, keeping her safe._

" _I love you." She said to him, her eyes locked onto his. They were the only two people in the world and he reached to cup her face, memorizing it in his mind, right before she pushed him away and entered the darkness._

 _She changed in the whirlwind. Her brilliant green eyes that were also so full of feeling dulled and turned black. Her soft, fair skin which he had just felt in his hand when he was cupping her cheek gained a dusty almost scale-like and golden hue that was reminiscent of the crocodile._

 _In fact, he quickly realized, everything about her was becoming reminiscent to the crocodile. From her wicked and cold expression to the power that radiated from her hands._

" _Emma!" He called out to her but when she looked at him, well, he liked to pride himself on being able to read her like an open book but now, this new Emma was completely foreign to him._

" _So sorry, dearie. I'm afraid I don't answer to that name anymore." In a blink she was standing right in front of him. As he watched her hand plunge into his chest he felt like he was swaying and he heard the rushing sound of the tide growing louder and louder in his ears._

" _Emma, I love you." He heard himself saying but he felt detached from his body. As if he were watching the scene unfold, but could do nothing to stop it._

 _Emma ripped out his heart without a second thought, and he watched in agony, as she crumbled it in her hand_.

* * *

Killian Jones woke up gasping in his bed aboard the Jolly Roger.

 _It was just a dream. A nightmare._

Killian as of late hadn't been getting much sleep; putting all his time and energy into finding Emma, however, when he did rest it was usually, thankfully, dreamless. The nightmare he had just awoken from left him feeling cramped in the small quarters and in need of air.

The ship creaked as he got up to open one of the windows in his cabin. Looking out at the horizon, he could almost still picture Emma in the morning sunlight before everything had gone wrong.

It had been two weeks since that awful night, when Emma had disappeared and her name had shown up on the Dark One's dagger. He remembered how before he had hidden the dagger he had found himself running his fingers along her name, wondering where she was and how she was doing. They had yet to find her or find any clues as to where she might be.

What they had found with the help of the crocodile, Killian thought begrudgingly, was that this wizard Merlin was from a realm called Camelot. Snow White and the Prince claimed they had once known a man in the Enchanted Forest from this land, a man named Lancelot, however, as Killian recalled Cora had killed him. Even if he had been alive though, Lancelot would be no use to them since they still had no way of crossing realms, should Merlin still even be in Camelot.

Henry was spending his days at the wizard's mansion going through his books to find information. He had deduced that Merlin was capable of appearing outside the realm of Camelot but had yet to discover a book on the realm itself. While they all wished to help him, none of them had the ability to see what he saw so they found other ways to help.

Snow White and the Prince when they weren't doing service for the town or looking after their son were questioning the author Isaac Heller in his cell. They were hoping, in his years within the book and writing for it, he might have discovered a way to cross realms without a magic bean. As of yet, the man had been uncooperative.

Killian spent most of his time with Regina either in her vault or in the crocodile's shop. Regina had tried every locator spell she could think of to find Emma or Merlin but even her mirrors could not produce Emma's location. All they saw when they tried to glimpse her in the mirror was their own reflections staring right back at them. It was both puzzling and worrisome.

Killian grabbed the flask of rum he kept on his desk and took a large swig. He was supposed to be meeting Regina this morning at the crocodile's shop. Now that the former Dark One was awake and providing information, and since they couldn't help Henry, they were going through the items in the shop and his books looking for more information on Camelot and realm travel.

He was happy to be doing something productive that would also keep his mind off worrying about Emma. However, every time he looked at Rumpelstiltskin while they were working all he could think about was that Emma sacrificed herself for this man. This coward who had freely given in to darkness, had killed a man for it he had told them, and when it got to be too much for him needed rescuing.

Now they had to rescue Emma and after two weeks, who knew what the darkness had done to her.

Killian pulled on his jacket and with another swig of his rum, headed off toward the crocodile's shop.

* * *

Regina pulled out another box from under a table in the front Gold's shop, this one just as filled and unorganized as the last few. "I thought Belle categorized everything here."

"Not everything. There were some— _personal_ —things I didn't want her getting into." Mr. Gold, looking far healthier than he had two weeks ago when they had found him, dying from his blackened heart on the floor of his pawn shop, was going through a large book from his personal collection.

"You'd think people would have come to collect some of this by now." She muttered pushing aside some sheet music and an old teddy bear.

"Be glad they didn't. Then you would have nothing to look through." Regina rolled her eyes. Since becoming powerless, Rumpelstiltskin had been relying on his knowledge of magic and of the items he kept in his shop to stay useful and among the heroes. Many people in the town held grudges against him, the fairies for instance, the only thing keeping him from their justice was that he was helping them find Emma.

"I've never heard of anything besides magic beans, curses, and the Mad Hatter allowing anyone to cross realms. I doubt something that powerful will be among this trash." Regina knew Rumpelstiltskin; she knew that while he appeared to be happy in his knew simple life he must be longing after his power. Which is why initially when he had asked her to go through boxes, she figured he must think there was something that could be found but after days of nothing, her patience was running thin.

"Patience, dearie, you—," the door to the shop chimed as Killian Jones entered looking as tired and frustrated as they all felt.

"Any news?" Killian said, his eyes trained on Gold for a moment before he turned to Regina with his question.

"Not unless these mothballs have developed magic." He joined her at the table, pulling up the next box.

"Tell me something crocodile, you spent years searching for a way to come to this land. If you didn't have the power before to do it, what makes you think something here will help?"

"Realms are tricky," Gold began as he turned the page of the tomb he was reading, "I couldn't enter this particular land without a curse or a bean but that didn't stop me from traveling to others."

"Were any of these other realms Camelot?"

Regina sighed, for the greater part of the last two weeks she had been going through both Gold's shop and her own vault looking for a magical solution with Hook and Gold to their Emma problem. The two men could barely get through ten minutes without starting an argument. _If one of them didn't kill the other by the end of all of this_ , she thought, I _might end up throwing a fireball at them both._

"Would you two quit your bickering?" She finally said when she heard her phone vibrating. "Henry's calling."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Thank you for reading/favoriting/following and thank you those of you who leave reviews, I love hearing your thoughts and speculations! This one is a bit of a stepping stone to the next chapter where we'll check be checking up on Emma:)**

 **I do not own Once Upon a Time or its characters!**

* * *

Henry had spent the better part of the last two weeks reading in what he now dubbed, "Merlin's hidden library". In that time he had been able to go through many of the storybooks that lined its shelves, however he had yet to touch at least half of the remaining books. Unfortunately, after day one, he quickly discovered that there was no discernable order to the shelf location of each storybook. The books covered a range of time periods from ancient Greece to Victorian London to the nineteen-twenties but their organization had nothing to do with the times they written for.

As he moved from story to story, book to book, he supposed it made the most sense for the books to be in order of author. With that logic then Merlin's story or any stories from Camelot were most likely at the beginning of this order, however, checking the storybooks at either end of the library disproved this idea as well.

Perhaps if he knew the names of the authors then he would be able to discern how they were categorized. Since the Apprentice had given Henry zero information on the authors before him, besides what he already knew about Isaac Heller (and since Isaac refused to give any information to Henry's grandparents), Henry was left right back where he started. He flipped the page on another storybook and moved on to the next one.

Henry thought, if he didn't have a mission and his mom weren't missing, then going through these storybooks would actually be interesting and fun. The hundreds of stories he had skimmed in the last two weeks were all well written, highly intricate, and now he knew about real people. Reading the stories also gave Henry a sense of uniqueness and meaning since he was the only one able to read them.

However, in their current situation, Henry's uniqueness was becoming a kind of struggle. On the one hand, Henry was happy that he finally had a purpose among his family. He was actually doing something productive and meaningful to help solve the town crisis as opposed to be part of the crisis. His family finally needed _his_ help in order to save the day. On the other hand, Henry was beginning to wish that he wasn't the only one who could read the storybooks. If his family could read them too, while it would probably mean they would force Henry to sit on sidelines, at least then they would probably be able to find Emma faster.

Henry would just skim the books looking for references to Merlin or Camelot but with Merlin's illusiveness in the role he was playing and their lack of knowledge on his location Henry was having to read every book quickly, but thoroughly. Unfortunately, Merlin was proving to be much harder to find then Henry had initially thought. There were some very clear instances pointing towards former Dark One's in some of the stories Henry went through but none of them seemed to reference the powerful wizard who was keeping tabs on them all.

That is until a little over halfway through the storybooks on the shelves; Henry stumbled upon a story called, "The Sword in the Stone".

He called his mother and his grandparents and within twenty minutes, they were gathering in the library with him.

Regina sat next to him at one the tables, drumming her fingers on the wood and checking her watch impatiently. Killian sat at the seat across from Henry, playing with his hook and nervously scratching the back of his ear with his hand. Since he had arrived with Regina and Gold, Killian had seemed a little shaken to Henry. He supposed they were all feeling tense after two weeks with no leads. Meanwhile, Henry's grandfather, Mr. Gold, and his wife Belle stood across from their table. Gold was leaning heavily on his cane and looking around the hidden room, Belle beside him had picked through a few of the books curiously, asking Henry about what he saw in them.

"That one is about a world like ours only instead of humans, everyone is animals." Belle flipped the pages.

"It's amazing that you're able to read all of these." She said.

"All part of being an author, I guess." Henry glanced around the room at the hundreds of storybooks stacked on the shelves. There were many stories that the world couldn't see, why?

Just then, Henry's other grandparents came swiftly into the room hand in hand, apologizing for taking so long.

"We talked to August like you asked Henry but he said he's never heard of any of the stories you mentioned." David said.

"The only book he was familiar with was your storybook." Mary Margaret added.

"That's okay; I knew it was a long shot." Henry had only thought to ask August Booth, also known as Pinocchio, since his mom, Emma, seemed to turn to him with questions about the books.

"Well now that we've all arrived," Regina began, "Henry, what have you found?"

Henry pulled out the last storybook he had been reading. After he had called his family, asking them to meet him here, he had read through "The Sword and the Stone" and several of the other stories the book contained. They were all from a land called Camelot.

"I found it." He finally said.

"You found out where Emma is?" Snow asked in an excited voice, her hand gripping David's tightly.

"I found Camelot. I've gotten through at least half of these books by now, but this one," he said pointing toward the storybook he still had in front of him on the table, "this one is filled with stories set in Camelot."

"Do these stories talk of the wizard Merlin?" Killian probed, looking up from his hook.

"He's in almost all of them," Henry opened the book and began flipping through. "Most of the stories are mainly focused around a man called Arthur Pendragon."

"Does this Arthur Pendragon become Merlin?" Regina asked, glancing over at the book even though to her it was blank.

"No, Arthur was more like Merlin's student. Merlin helped Arthur become King of Camelot and then became his most trusted advisor."

"So Merlin _is_ in Camelot?" David questioned.

"Well, that's still unclear. He definitely spent a significant amount of time there. See, Merlin gets imprisoned in this cave and while he's there there's a war and Arthur dies and Camelot's golden age ends."

"So what you're saying is—" Regina began.

"I'm saying this is the first time I've ever seen Merlin appear by name in _any_ of these books. And it mentions Merlin fighting 'dark forces'." There was silence in response to Henry's statement. Everyone was thinking the same thing.

"The Dark One." Gold finally murmured.

"That's what I think. I think the darkness that makes up the Dark One is the same darkness Merlin fought in these stories, in Camelot." Henry didn't mention how much the darkness had destroyed Camelot since it wasn't relevant to finding Merlin. However, he knew from what he had read that the darkness his mom was facing at this very moment could be more powerful than anything they imagined.

"Does the book say what happened to Merlin after the war, if he ever got out of the cave?" Belle asked.

"He got out, after that the book's unclear. It looks like once Arthur died Merlin disappeared." Henry shut the storybook.

"If we could just find a way to get to Camelot maybe we could find out more about what happened." David put a hand on Henry's shoulder, "Good job Henry. Now we at least know more about who we're looking for."

Henry nodded. This was the first lead they had found in weeks, at this point any information they found was good information with the potential to help them find Emma.

"I think I'll head back to my shop, I've been tracking a few things in my books that might be able to help us reach Camelot." Gold said and after offering his arm to Belle, they left the library.

"Henry, do you think you could read this book aloud for me, I'd like to hear it myself." Regina pulled the book closer to where she was seated, as if she thought having the blank book in front of her might help her figure something out.

"I'd like to stay and hear too, lad, if that'd be alright." Killian asked.

"Yeah, sure! Grandpa, grandma?" He turned to David and Snow. Emma's parents would want to know as much as they could about any hints to their daughter's location.

"We're all ears." Snow said as she sat down around the table with David.

"Okay, here goes." Henry started as he opened the cover.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This is the longest chapter I've written so far and I'm introducing a pretty important character so I hope you enjoy! Thank you for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

"We know Arthur had to pull the sword from the stone to become King," Henry's maternal grandfather, David, began after Henry had finished reading from the Camelot storybook a few hours later. His family had asked very few questioned while he read, waiting for the full picture to discuss what they'd heard.

Telling the story to them took some of the weight off Henry's shoulders. Before, when he was the only one who could read the stories he had felt somewhat burdened to do his part, now that he was finally allowed to be involved, and find anything on Merlin. Of course, once he did find the right book he remained the only person among them who could read from the book.

Henry thought the first thing he might ask Merlin after all this was over was why he created this huge library if no one could read what was inside. Authors were meant to be writing down events and Henry's ability to read from the books did nothing to help him there.

He might also ask if Merlin had the power to stop the darkness all along then why didn't he do it in the first place, why even bother creating the dark one? If Merlin had never created the dark one and had just destroyed the darkness instead, then they wouldn't even be in this mess.

Of course, from what Henry knew from his favorite movies, wishing you could change the past never helped anything. So he focused on the situation they were in now which he had never really named, Operation…Panther? Why not? Operation Panther.

"And Rumpelstiltskin told you in the Enchanted Forest that Merlin is the one who created the sword and that the sword is in the stone now, in Camelot." Snow White was clutching her husband's hand as they sat across the table from Henry in the library.

Henry knew when he began reading for his family that though the stories of Camelot started off filled with light and hope, by the end there was only tragedy and disaster. It was hard for all of them to hear and to think of Emma stuck in a land so destroyed by darkness.

Killian, Henry noticed, was no longer sitting with them around the table; instead, he was stretching his legs by pacing the room while they talked. "If we're to believe the crocodile's words then somehow the wizard had to return the sword to its stone after the final battle."

"Which means he had to escape the—Henry what was it called?" David asked.

Henry peered at the book in front of him, turning back a few pages. "The crystal cave, at least that's how it's referred to," He skimmed the words for the third time, "Supposedly the 'dark forces' that had invaded the kingdom trapped Merlin there to keep him from intervening in the final battle."

Henry's mom, who had initially asked to hear the tales, was sitting pensively beside him, analyzing internally when she finally asked, "When does the darkness first appear in the story?"

"I'm not sure." Henry supposed there was never really a time when the darkness hadn't existed in the story, only moments where it was not mentioned and others where it drove characters and events. "The book says that Camelot was at its 'darkest days' _before_ Arthur."

"It always seems to come back to Arthur." That was true, Arthur was the main character of most of what Henry read, the wizard Merlin whom they were truly interested in was only a presence in his life. "Arthur becomes king, Excalibur is Arthur's sword, Arthur's knights of the round table, Merlin is Arthur's advisor, Lancelot is in love with Arthur's wife—," Henry stopped listening to his mother when he noticed his grandparents exchange a look at each other.

Lancelot had been their friend and ally once, in the Enchanted Forest. That must have been where he was sent to once he was banished for his part in Camelot's downfall.

"When you knew Lancelot did he say anything about all this?" Henry gestured to the book.

"He mentioned once that he was disgraced because of a woman, I think." Snow White squeezed her husband's hand, obviously still somewhat upset after hearing her friend's sad history, "Lancelot didn't talk much about his homeland, now I think I understand why it might have upset him."

"Particularly the thought of Arthur, I'd imagine." Killian muttered as he sat back down with them.

"Why put the sword back in the stone?" Regina asked, completely ignoring their discussion of Arthur's best friend.

"So it could name a new King?" David suggested. Henry supposed this made sense; the sword had picked the first one.

"Excalibur could only be pulled out by the true King but Merlin wanted Arthur to be King and Merlin was the one who hand crafted Excalibur. This book," Regina pointed towards the pages in front of Henry, "says that in Arthur's hands the sword was immensely powerful. What happens to the personal weapons of most knights when they die?"

David leaned back in his chair, scratching the back of his head. "I suppose they're buried with them, at least their personal weapon."

"Why not bury the sword with its master then? Why put it back in the stone? You're right; it sounds like the sword's purpose was already completed." Snow White had caught on to what Regina was hinting at. She was right. They all were thinking it, Excalibur would forever be _Arthur's_ sword, and it didn't make sense for Merlin to remove it from his King's possession.

"Brilliant, now we have more questions than before." Kilian was right too, going over what they knew from the story would only get them so far. If they actually wanted to take action they needed to find a way to cross the realms to Camelot.

"I think it's time I relieve Granny from watching Neal. He probably needs to be fed." Snow White got out of her chair and came over to Henry giving him a quick hug. Her motherly embraced reminded Henry of Emma, Snow was Emma's mother after all, and he found himself wishing he could do more than sit and read books to help find her.

"Don't worry. Have faith." She smiled at him softly.

"I'll drive you, I should probably check back up with the station anyway." David waved at the group and taking his wife's hand they left the library.

"Hook," Killian looked up when Regina called his moniker, "will you make sure Henry gets home? I'm going to join Gold, it's about time I got my hands on one of his books whether he likes it or not." Henry smiled at his mother's determination.

A year ago, Regina never would have even attempted to help Emma and now she was doing it not just for Henry's sake but because the two woman, even if they wouldn't fully admit it, had become friends.

"Aye, of course."

"See you at home Mom." Henry called after her.

Neither Henry nor Killian made any move to leave the library although it was clear there wasn't much left to be accomplished here. Henry guessed he could look within the books for realm travelers but none of the stories that he had come across so far took place in the land without magic, so the odds of finding something they could actually use were slim.

Henry closed his eyes, stuck his hands in the pockets, and slouched in his chair.

When he had found out that everyone from town had disappeared after Isaac had changed their stories that hadn't stopped him from finding a way to get to them. He had a clear goal then, find Isaac, and save the town.

This mystery about Merlin was more difficult because even now that they had information on the man, enough to strongly suspect he might still be in Camelot, they had no leads within their realm.

Henry's fingers felt cool metal at the bottom of his pant pockets. The key.

The key to the door page Isaac had been locked in.

The key that Henry had accidently used to travel into the _Heroes and Villains_ book, and therefore the Enchanted Forest.

Henry was beginning to get an idea of how Operation Panther could work out.

* * *

Emma watched the old woman standing in front of her closely. She was at least a head shorter than Emma was, but her wild grey hair seemed to stand straight in all directions which gave her a larger presence within the walls of the cave. She wore what appeared to have once been a fine gown of various rich purple and pink hues, but was now tattered and faded. Emma wondered what had happened to the old woman, Emma assumed she was old based on the wrinkles on her face; and how she came to be here waiting for Emma to escape from her cage.

The thought occurred that this might be the person who imprisoned her, in which case Emma felt the growing desire to wring her scrawny neck with her bare hands. Emma didn't know why that was her first instinct at the thought but she didn't deny the desire.

For now though, until she had satisfied her curiosity, anything other than asking her questions could wait.

" _Who_ are you and why are you here?" Emma's voice sounded strange to her ears. There was a roughness from her time screaming in the cave but it was also harder and colder than she remembered or felt like she intended.

"Why," the woman began in her shrill voice, her cold green eyes piercing into Emma's, "I'm the Marvelous Madam Mim." She curtsied with a wide smile slowly spreading across her face.

"Okay. Sure." Marvelous Madam Mim? More like 'Mad' Madam Mim. Why was Emma wasting her time with some foolish old women who obviously was deluded enough to live out the end of her days in this cave?

"You don't believe me, do you, my dear?" She took a step to approach Emma and Emma found her hands tightened into fists. What was she going to do, hit the old woman if she got too close? If the woman was crazy, it wasn't like she could trust her. If she wasn't then maybe that was worse and Emma might need to resort to force to get out of here.

"But I have _magnificent_ , marvelous power. It's how I was able to create all this." She gestured around at the cave they were in and at the crystal dust on the ground.

So this _was_ the woman who created her cage.

At once, Emma felt her anger rising up, "You were the one who trapped me here." Emma had thought it was the magic that had brought her here, she imagined it happening to all the Dark Ones before her. If this _Madam Mim_ brought her here, trapped her here, then that meant she must want something and after spending so much time locked away, Emma wasn't in a very giving mood.

"My dear, if I had wanted to trap you, _you would be trapped_." Madam Mim again took a step toward Emma still with a sly grin on her face and Emma didn't shy away. Who did this woman think she was dealing with? She was obviously underestimating Emma's magic. Emma had powerful magic before and now she was the Dark One. She had already freed herself from this woman's prison, no matter what Madam Mim claimed Emma had the upper hand.

"You're going to pay for what you did to me." Emma told her, this time taking a step toward the old woman so that if she wanted to she could reach out and touch her. "I'm going to kill you and then I'm getting out of here."

The woman had trapped her once, that was because Emma was just discovering what she was capable of. Since freeing herself, Emma felt more in control of her magic than ever before and she found a new sense of clarity in her mind. She wouldn't allow Madam Mim any chance to cage her again, the old woman would pay for locking her up, and then Emma would be free.

"Good. I look forward to you trying." The woman had the audacity to laugh at Emma's words. Emma would show her that she didn't make idle threats.

With lightning speed she had never used before, Emma reached out her arm and wrapped her hand around the old woman's throat. Madam Mim continued to smile, which only angered Emma more. She began to close her fist tighter around the woman's neck only to find the woman had disappeared from her hand.

"Down here, dear." Madam Mim's voice came from Emma's feet. She looked down and saw that the woman had shrunken to the size of a mouse, effectively slipping right through Emma's fingers.

In her frustration, Emma attempted to step on the tiny woman but she was too fast. She seemed to fly right from under Emma's foot across the cave where she appeared at normal height. Emma threw all her anger into a blast of magic that pushed Madam Mim against the wall of the cave, only the old woman was up again in a flash and with a wave of her hand, Emma felt _herself_ hit the walls.

Madam Mim clapped her hands in delight, "Wonderful! What wonderful anger you have."

"What is this? Some kind of game to you?" Emma pushed herself back up onto her feet, glaring at the old woman in front of her. What kind of witch was she that she could so effectively combat Emma's attacks?

"You know I'm mad about games." Madam Mim held out her hand and Emma was forcibly held against the wall. "But I think it's about time we get down to business." Emma eyed the woman warily.

Emma could only imagine what crazy thing Madam Mim wanted from her, however, after seeing her small display of power and feeling it, Emma wondered what she could offer the woman that she couldn't achieve for herself.

All Emma wanted was to go back to Henry and to leave this entire mad game behind.

Madam Mim grinned, as she stood right in front of Emma.

"Let's make a deal."

* * *

Killian had gotten lost in his thoughts since Regina had left. He was supposed to be making sure Henry got home safely but the lad had seemed just as reluctant to leave as Killian. This book they had found was their first clue and what had they truly accomplished?

Killian felt like they were going in circles trying to find Emma or a way to reach her and only coming up with dead ends or more questions than answers. They knew all about Merlin's time in Camelot and his dalliance with the King Arthur. That might help them once they reached the man but until then?

Emma was out there somewhere, Killian could feel it, and she needed them to do better.

"What if I had a way to get us there?" Henry suddenly said. Killian wondered if all his hours in the library had made Henry go mad.

"Henry, lad, we've been trying for weeks to reach Camelot and suddenly you know how?"

"Before, when Isaac changed the story and you were all missing. I confronted him and all I wanted was to go where you all were, to fix everything." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small, silver key Killian recognized as the one that had kept Isaac Heller locked within the storybook for years. "I used this key. I didn't know it was going to take me inside the book at the time, I thought it would just trap Isaac, but it did. It took me to the Enchanted Forest where you all were. What if it could take us to Camelot?"

Killian wasn't sure if the fact that the key was the only plausible method of realm travel they'd discovered yet made him want to believe Henry or if he was just desperate to stop running in circles. Nevertheless, what if it the key could do all he said? They could find Emma.

"If memory serves, you were trapped there until you undid the story." Supposing he could find Emma with this key, he had to make sure he could get them back. Finding her in Camelot only be stuck with her wasn't a smart plan; if this was going to work they needed to strategize.

"Merlin will be there though. He can just make us a portal home!" Henry was getting excited. He was no longer just standing in front of the book; he was practically bouncing. His reasoning was sound—it was the beginning of a plan but they would need to wait for the others before they could attempt anything.

"Let's call your family back, they should hear all this before you try anything."

"I can do it! I know I can, it's just like before. All I have to do is—", Henry flipped to the end of the end of the book. He gripped the key tightly in his right hand and Killian realized what he intended to do. Henry wanted to try right now.

Killian picture Regina's reaction if she returned home to find that her son had disappeared somewhere in this strange storybook they knew nothing about without any aid and Killian's watch. He could only imagine how Emma would never let Henry do this and he, himself, didn't want the lad to get into any trouble. Who knew what dangers there would be in Camelot, especially if as Killian thought, Henry was attempting to enter at the end of the story, the end of the tragic war.

"Henry don't!" Killian yelled, reaching for the lad with his hand to stop the boy but only just barely grasping the boy's arm when Henry thrust the key into the storybook.

Everything went black.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: As always, thank YOU for reading! I hope you enjoy:)**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

" _Let's make a deal."_

Emma let out a frustrated sigh. Since breaking out of the crystal room, she had felt fully energized and powerful. The power to do anything she wanted was right there on the tips of her fingers, all she had to do was think about it, feel it, and it would be real.

Her attempts to rid herself of Madam Mim brought her back to reality. Emma wasn't a master at magic.

 _At least not yet._

All the power was there, it was just the creativity and the control that she needed to work on. At the moment, however, she didn't have time to learn those skills. Madam Mim wanted something from her and Emma had a feeling the woman was telling the truth about having greater capabilities then she was showing.

"What do you want?" The only person Emma knew who dealt with deals was Mr. Gold, the former owner of her power.

Emma wondered if Gold had woken up yet from his ordeal or if the strain had been too much for his body. After everything she went through to keep him from dying because of his damn heart, he'd better be alive at least.

Alive or not, Emma knew that whenever Gold wanted to make a deal it was because he his own greater motive that usually ended up hurting the people who dealt with him. She couldn't imagine it would be any better with Madam Mim.

"My dear, I only want a fair trade, you give me what I want, and I'll give you what you want."

"All you need to do to give me what I want is get out of my way." Emma moved to push past the old woman, who let her by easily enough. Odd, since before she had seemed so bent on keeping her here.

"You won't get home that way." Emma paused. She shouldn't believe the woman after everything. The smart move would be to put as much distance between herself and Madam Mim as possible and then figure out the best way back to Storbrooke and Henry from wherever she was.

However, Emma knew when people were lying, at least that hadn't changed since she had gained new power, and from what she could tell Madam Mim was telling the truth.

"Why can't I get home this way?"

"You're no longer in Storybrooke." She was outside of the town line? That meant she'd just have to find a road and walk or hitch a ride to the nearest gas station or pay phone. Her parents no doubt would send someone to pick her up, not coming themselves since they had the new baby to care for and the town to see too. But then, it wouldn't matter because Emma would get to Henry and—"You're no longer in the land without magic."

Emma should have known. The fact that she had been able to use her magic at all meant that she wasn't just outside the town line but that she was in another realm. With her luck it was the Enchanted Forest, Emma was getting really tired of her trips to the Enchanted Forest.

"Where are we?"

"Camelot." Not the Enchanted Forest then. That's twice today she had been wrong. It reminded Emma that at the end of all this she still needed to kill Madam Mim.

"Like King Arthur and the knights of the round table, Camelot?"

Something Emma said made Madam Mim let out a cackled laugh. "The very same."

What else did Emma know about Camelot? She had seen a few movies about the place, but every tale was different and Emma had found out in the last few years that none of the movies ever got things completely right.

Arthur and his knights.

Round table.

Excalibur.

Merlin.

 _Merlin._ That was the wizard! Maybe she didn't have to make Madam Mim's deal after all.

"Does that mean that the wizard Merlin is here?"

Madam Mim's face turned sour quickly. "What do you know about Merlin?"

"I don't think I'll be making your deal." Emma turned to continue her way out of the cave but in a flash Madam Mim appeared before her.

"Merlin can't help you, dark one." Emma stiffened at what the woman had called her. She understood that that was her new role but the reality of it hadn't set in, even when she was exercising her new power, until she felt identified by the name. Her power came from it, being the dark one, by accepting her power she accepted that title and she realized that that didn't bother her one bit.

"Why is that?"

"Merlin doesn't help the dark ones of the world, he's too _good_ for that." Her words were filled with distain. Emma thought that Madam Mim must hate the wizard she seemed so agitated at the very thought of him. "He'll take away all your magic, and then how will you protect your Henry?"

Before, Emma thought she might have responded that she didn't need magic to protect Henry, that she could do just as well with a gun or her own fists. Now, that she had it though, she couldn't imagine losing the rush of her power. Why would she rely on a gun or her own physical abilities when she could wave her hand and send a threat flying through the air.

Madam Mim was right. The apprentice had told them of Merlin and his attempts to rid the world of the darkness. He would surely try just that if he found Emma. If Emma did go to Merlin and he removed her power then she would be at the mercy of others again. She would never be able to take Henry away from all this unless she had her power to back her up. Her best chance at protecting him was to stay the way she was and that meant staying away from Merlin.

"If I make this deal with you, will you be able to open up a portal to send me home?"

"My dear, we've established my magnificent power. Opening a portal for you would be as simple as a few words and snap of my fingers."

"What do you want then in return for the portal?"

Madam Mim smiled again. "I will open up a portal for you and it will stay open long enough for you to go home, gather your things, retrieve your boy, and then return to bring me your dagger."

"You're kidding." Emma was back to believing that Madam Mim must be crazy. "If I bring you my dagger, you'll be able to control me. No deal."

"The dagger only works that way as long as you are in the same realm." Emma hadn't known that but she guessed that explained why she hadn't been forced back to Storybrooke by anyone of the people she knew using the dagger. "You bring me the dagger and I'll open you another portal so you and your boy can escape to any realm you'd like."

Maybe not so crazy.

With a portal to anywhere, Emma and Henry would be able to leave everything behind, just the two of them, and start over not just in a brand new town but also in a whole new world. They could travel somewhere better, where they would be safe from the danger and crazy that seemed to follow them around Storybrooke.

They could go somewhere where no one would be able to follow them or find them.

Emma would use her magic to keep them safe and build them there new life. She supposed Henry might want to write for the book but he could do that anywhere, there'd be a host of new stories for him in their new world that they would explore.

No Regina stealing away her son. No Snow White or Prince Charming abandoning her and disappointing her. No curses stealing her memories. No monsters disrupting her peace. No Captain Hook leaving her behind.

It was almost too good to be true.

"Why do you want the dagger?"

"That's my business, don't you think?" Madam Mim's eyes seemed to be challenging Emma to ask another question and risk her taking the deal off the table completely.

"If I bring it to you, you promise you'll let me and Henry go, go anywhere? You won't use the dagger to use me."

"I have no use for you. Only the dagger."

Emma noticed that Madam Mim seemed to ignore the promise.

"And you promise?"

Madam Mim looked shocked that Emma would even feel the need to ask. "I-I wouldn't make you a deal, I didn't intend to keep, my dear."

Emma didn't want to trust Madam Mim. But her offer gave Emma everything she wanted, everything she needed. Her power. Her son. Her freedom. It was all right within her grasp.

"Okay. Deal."

Madam Mim had a delighted grin on her face as she turned from Emma to work her spell.

* * *

Killian's head was throbbing. He thought he must have had quite a lot to drink the night before to have a hangover this bad. He also felt an incessant shaking and imagined the Jolly had come upon stormy waters and that the ocean waves must be battering her from all sides.

If that were the case then he needed to get up and give orders to the crew on deck. But his head hurt so bad he didn't want to move and thought he might vomit if he tried.

"Killian! Killian!"

There was a voice calling his name. _Smee?_ He wondered. Perhaps his first mate had come to get him, he really needed to be on deck.

"Killian!"

The voice was too young to be Smee, had he sent one of the deckhands to get him? That didn't make sense. Smee always came to get him himself as a way of avoiding the hard weather and labor on deck.

Killian cracked an eye open and immediately regretted it, as he realized that he wasn't in his cabin on board the Jolly Roger but outside on hard ground.

It also wasn't Smee or a deckhand calling his name but Henry who was also the cause of his shaking. He remembered then, that he had grabbed onto Henry as he had used the key on that damn book. Now where were they?

"Aye, lad. You can stop that now." He raised his good hand to push Henry's arms away from him and give him some breathing room.

"Oh thank god. When we landed you hit your head and I thought I was going to have to leave you here to find help if you didn't wake up soon." Killian looked at the boy, who looked drastically less confident then he had when he was in the library however long ago. Henry looked like he might be regretting his impulsive decision at this point.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?" Killian's head was still throbbing as he lifted himself onto his elbows but the pain was dissipating. He took a look around them, he could tell they were in a clearing somewhere out in the woods from the faint line of trees he could make out and that it was very late in the evening based on the pitch darkness, the sliver of the moon and the stars was their only light.

"It worked though! I think we're in Camelot." Relaxing now that Killian was no longer unconscious, Henry sat down next to him, exploring the faint shapes he could see around them with his eyes.

"We won't know that until we get out these woods and find a village."

"Well now that you're awake, we can work on that."

If they were in Camelot, then that meant they might be within a few days of finding Merlin. Once they found Merlin, it was only a short matter of time surely, before they found Emma. Emma could be in this realm right now for all they knew.

Killian imagined what it would be like, seeing her again, holding her in his arms once they were finally reunited. If he could, he'd start trekking through the woods, Henry in tow, right now to get to Emma.

However, there was nothing they could do in the unfamiliar woods without a light. The clearing they were in seemed secluded enough for the night, considering Killian didn't actually think he'd be up for trip through the woods just yet.

"Why don't we rest here for the night, and set out in the morning."

"Aye, aye, captain." Henry mumbled and Killian found himself chuckling despite himself as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry this is a short one! I'm currently traveling out of the country so I don't always have as much time to write as I did before, but I will continue to be posting as often as I can!**

 **Thank you for reading:)**

 **I do not own Once Upon a Time or its characters!**

* * *

"Well." Regina had given Gold time to recover, she had allowed him to help in whatever way he felt he could, but after two weeks with no clues as to how they would travel to Camelot it was time she took control of this investigation.

"Regina," Gold started when she entered, glancing around the shop no doubt for Belle, "you've come to help I imagine? Good. You can start with—"

"Isn't it about time you let me take a look at one of those books of yours?"

She was sick of growing through dusty boxes of junk items like old clothes and children's toys. She could tell from the moment the boxes were in front of her that most likely there was nothing significant inside, but she had tried to be patient and to do as he asked, thinking maybe he might know of some magical item or object that she didn't hidden within the junk.

Now, however, she was done being patient. Her son was hurting, she could sense it when she saw him reading through the Camelot book. She wouldn't let Gold stall them any longer and he seemed sure that one of these books he had in front of him would have answers.

Gold was standing at the counter of his shop, the stack of books he had pulled out weeks ago in front of him. Regina recognized a few of the names as books he had used when teaching her about magic. She came up to the counter as Gold closed the current volume he was examining.

"I'm afraid these," he gestured to the texts, "might be a little over your caliber, dearie."

Regina narrowed her eyes, "Let's not forget which one of us currently has magic."

In the years Regina had known Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold, any behavior of secrecy always meant he was hiding an ulterior motive. Knowing Gold, Regina guessed it might have to do with his losing his power as the dark one. She couldn't picture the man being very happy, as he was now, powerless, even if he claimed that all that was behind him since losing the dark one's influence.

 _Darkness always leaves its mark_ , Regina thought, remembering her own back and forth struggle with being a good person, at first for Henry, and then for herself with her new life, now including Robin, in mind. Even though she had come out on the side of good, there were times when the darkness still tempted her with what had after a long time become the easy, familiar choices. She found herself evaluating her decisions with a new perspective of right and wrong and lucky enough for her she had people who cared about her to check her choices.

She had suspected since Gold had been helping them look through his shop that he might be working some scheme even when he had been completely forthcoming with information. Now that it was obvious he still had secrets to hide, Regina wondered if she should share her concerns with the others. Killian of course, would jump on any chance not to trust the former dark one, but if they all turned against the man, they might lose any help he could offer them. Then how would they find Emma?

So maybe she wouldn't share her concerns just yet, but she would continue to keep an eye on him. Right now, that meant figuring out what was in these books, a way to reach Emma or the clues to Gold's scheme.

Just as she was about to question him further about the books, Belle entered from the back room.

"Regina! I didn't know you were coming back."

"Yes, I wanted to take a look at some of these books you have here."

Belle looked between her husband and Regina, "A second set of eyes never hurt, right Rumple?"

Gold smiled in a way Regina thought must be forced, "Of course."

Regina returned his smile, taking the top book of the pile.

* * *

David flipped through the reports sitting on Emma's desk in the sheriff's station. Aside from the magical disturbances, not much happened in Storybrooke that required a report, although there was the occasional rowdy drunk or missing cat.

That left David with a lot of time to research what he could for finding Emma. He checked old censuses for the Apprentice and even the wizard Merlin, he used the computer to research what he could find on this world's interpretation of Camelot, and he updated their case board on what they knew and what they still needed to know to reach Emma. Although, what he really found himself doing most of the time was learning more about his own daughter.

He hadn't meant to go poking around her desk but the occasional report did go missing and he had thought that perhaps Emma had some sort of file system within her desk. What he actually found was a box of what he assumed were Emma's things, based on a picture of herself and Neal he happened to see inside, he didn't want to invade her privacy but even though Emma had embraced himself and Snow as her parents, there was still so much they didn't know about their daughter.

It was strange, when he saw things that belonged to her, he often had no clue what their significance was and it made him wish he had spent more time asking her about her life before they had been reunited as a family. He knew she didn't like to talk about most of it, but after everything with Maleficent and Lily, maybe they needed to open up about their pasts.

There was also the factor that his daughter was currently missing that made him want to find out everything he could about her. He had watched her sacrifice herself into the darkness and now he was beginning to wonder what had happened to her in the last two weeks. There were parts of Emma's life David wondered if Darkness was using to twist and break his daughter and maybe if he knew a little more about her past when they found her, he could help her combat it.

Unfortunately, if they didn't find Emma soon, there might not be a way to help her without the wizard, who they still couldn't get to.

The feeling of his phone buzzing got him out of his thoughts and he looked down to see his wife was calling him.

"Hello?"

"David!" Snow's voice sounded panicked, David tensed wondering if there was some new problem to be faced in town when they hadn't even solved their first problem yet.

"Mary Margaret, what's wrong?"

"I was going to Granny's with Neal and-"

"Are you both alright, is Neal okay?!" He already had one child missing and potentially in danger, he couldn't handle the thought of two.

"We're both fine, but—but we were walking through town and it looked like there was storm passing through and now—" Her words were so rushed he was having a hard time catching everything she was saying through the receiver.

"Just calm down, and tell me what's going on."

"It's Emma. She's here, she's in town."


	13. Chapter 13

**Wow! Lots of excitement over that last chapter, you'll get more of Emma next time I promise (and I have some exciting things planned for Killian and Henry), but after reading all the lovely reviews I thought I'd go ahead and post this early, enjoy:)**

 **I do not own Once Upon a Time!**

* * *

Snow White walked quickly down the street in Storybrooke, Maine, pushing her infant son, Neal, in a stroller in front of her. She knew her husband, David, was going to be spending another late night at the sheriff's station, something that had been happening quite often since Emma's disappearance. She wished she could be there with him or with Regina and the others doing research at Gold's shop.

She had a duty however, to be there for her son, she wondered if he even realized that anything was wrong with the adults around him. For the most part, Neal was quite the happy child and he was well loved, his parents compensating for all the years they had lost with their first child. Not that Snow would ever compare her two children in that way, she loved them both equally but with Emma, things were…different. She had to work so much harder to build her relationship with Emma, even though it had all seemed so natural from the moment they had first met, under the curse as Mary Margaret and Emma, to when the curse was finally broken and Snow White was reunited with her daughter.

Since mother and daughter had been reunited, Snow White had worked so hard to build the relationship she had always wanted to have with her daughter, and while it took a long time, they were finally getting to a place where they could be a family again. Having Neal was a way for herself and David to continue to move forward in their lives, she at least had always hoped for more children even when she was pregnant with Emma.

She turned the corner for Granny's and was surprised by an oddly strong gust of cold wind. Stopping for a moment to adjust the blanket around her son, she wondered, for maybe the thousandth time if Neal resembled Emma at this age. He certainly had some of the features that Snow remembered from the brief moments she had had to hold her baby daughter before David had taken her away.

Of course, Neal wasn't Emma; they were completely different children, one an infant and the other an adult. Snow smiled, picturing Emma holding her baby brother, her eyes lighting up as she made silly faces and cooed him. Yes, they would have very different childhoods but that wouldn't change the fact that they were family, and finally a complete one.

Or at least finally until Emma had disappeared two weeks ago.

Snow bundled her coat a little tighter against herself, it was strange the way the wind was getting stronger as she walked down the normally still and quiet Storybrooke street. She had wanted to pick up some food a Granny's to have when David got home, but now with the weather she was wondering whether she would have to stay in the diner until whatever storm this was passed through.

She looked up to see the sky go dark at an alarming rate, black clouds seeming to form out of thin air. The wind was now gusting around the street causing newspapers to fly out of their stands and leaves to swirl in patterns along the road. With Granny's Diner still at least a block ahead of her, Snow White ducked into a random storefront, keeping herself and her sleeping baby mostly out of the way of the weather.

 _Crack!_

Snow heard the sound, like lightning and thunder rolled into one, and the sky opened up. She looked up expecting to see rain or lightning hit the pavement but her eyes went wide when instead she saw a figure fall out of the storm.

The person, it was definitely a person, whoever they were landed in the middle of the road, among the wind and the swirling leaves, and once they appeared the storm seemed to dissipate, the winds calming and the sky clearing.

With one more glance around the area to make sure the storm wouldn't reappear Snow White moved herself, Neal with her, closer to the figure on the road, careful not to get too close were her baby in her arms. When she was close enough she realized she recognized the figure's blonde hair and white sweater.

It was Emma.

Throwing caution aside, Snow raced toward her daughter, parking Neal's crib next to her form and kneeling down beside her. She pushed aside her hair and nearly cried when she saw her daughter's face, unconscious but alive and well.

Keeping Emma's head on her lap, she pulled out her phone and began to call David, she would need help getting Emma home and they could finally call off the search!

Emma was found!

* * *

Killian Jones blinked several times when he woke up on the cold, hard ground. For a moment, he wondered why he was sleeping in a forest, only to remember that yesterday he had followed Emma's lad, as he had once followed her before, into a portal to Camelot.

He sat up to check his surroundings, Henry was still quietly sleeping across from him using his coat as a blanket and pillowing his head on his hands. Aside from Henry's soft breathing however, Killian was surprised to note that the forest lacked much noise, where he expected to hear the crunch of leaves as some animal ran home or the call of a bird from the trees he found only silence.

Granted, he wasn't familiar with this land and there had been things like this before when he had traveled to Neverland that had surprised him before he was familiar with the area.

The sun was only just risen over the horizon and he imagined Emma watching this same sunrise from wherever she was. How long until they would finally find her?

He stood up, brushing the dirt and leaves off of himself, left on him from his night on the ground, and rubbed the sore spot he now had on his forehead from his landing, wincing only when he applied a little too much pressure. He would have to ignore the pain for now so that they could begin finding their way out of the forest. He nudged Henry with his good hand to wake him and the boy rolled over groggily.

"What time is it?"

"Time we get out of this forest, eh?" He began pushing the leaves on the ground around with his feet, making the dent he left from lying down disappear into the forest floor.

"Do you really think we have to hide that we were here?" Henry asked, pulling his arm through the sleeves of his coat.

"This is unknown territory, until we know where we are we can't be too careful." Henry followed Killian's example, recovering the land he had slept on before the two headed off in what Killian believed was west of their current location.

"I didn't know we would end up in a forest when I used this." Henry said, after what felt like an hour of walking, he was playing with the book's key with his hands.

"That's the problem with magic, you don't always quite know what you're getting yourself into." Killian had never been much of a fan for magic, but then he had never seen it used in any positive fashion until he had met Emma and her family. Emma didn't like her own magic, but from the first moment he saw her use it he knew that because it came from Emma it had to be good.

"I am sorry about not waiting. I guess I just really want to find my mom."

Killian stopped walking and after a few steps so did Henry, when he realized the pirate was no longer walking with him. Killian put his good hand on the boy's shoulder, "Henry, we will find her."

"I know."

"Do you? Because you don't sound like you believe that."

Henry shook off Killian's hand and began walking again, this time Killian fell into step with him. After they had been walking for a while longer Henry finally said, "I was so sure it would all fall into place once we got here, that we'd find my mom, find Merlin, and go home." Henry shook his head, "Now, we're in the middle of nowhere! We can't even find our way out of this forest."

Killian thought they _were_ finding their way out of the forest; it was just going to take a little bit of time, like most good things. After two hundred years, Killian certainly knew about patience and recently he was finally beginning to understand hope.

He had never seen people as full of hope as Henry and his family, always relying on hope and faith in each other. Sure, he wasn't completely happy with the way things turned out when Henry impulsively decided to take them here, but they were here now. Looking on the positive side of things, they were certainly closer than they had been in the last two weeks to finding Emma and getting this whole bloody dark one business straightened out.

If after two hundred years Killian could finally learn how to hope and be happy, he couldn't let Henry get disheartened after just a few hours of things not going as planned.

He was just about to relay all these thoughts to the boy when he saw the smoke.

"Henry, do you see that?" He nodded toward what they could see of the sky through the treetops. Black smoke was pooling in the sky what seemed to be a short distance away.

"Is that smoke?"

"I think we're about to find ourselves in a village." Killian smirked as he watched Henry's face light up in excitement, maybe things were about to be back on track.

The two raced off through the forest, toward the village, and they hoped toward Emma.


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you for all the continuous reviews/favorites/follows! It makes my day when I see them and I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!:)**

 **I do not own Once Upon a Time!**

* * *

Regina was almost halfway through the book she had taken from Gold's pile when her phone rang. For all that she hoped to learn within the tome, she had made no success in either searching for realm travel or figuring out what Gold was up to. The book contained mostly information regarding botany, herbal recipes, and the use of various rare plants. None of which could open a portal to another realm, so why did Gold include it in his pile?

She was pondering this question when she heard the buzzing sound of her phone and before she could even say hello into the receiver, David said, "We found her."

The only "her" David could possibly be referring to was Emma, but still Regina could barely believe what she heard. After weeks of searching, she had thought it would take more to find the savior than what they had found so far. They had only just learned of Merlin's possible existence in Camelot and none of the magic at their disposal had been of any use in guiding them to either the wizard or Emma.

She could tell from the relief in the Prince's voice that he, and most likely his wife, were ready to celebrate the return of their daughter and move on from the last few weeks. But nothing was ever that simple. Regina stood a little straighter, pushing the useless book in front of her aside, "What?"

"Mary Margaret found Emma."

"Where?"

"She appeared in the middle of town." Appeared? Had Emma returned of her own will then? That would mean she had been somewhere in Storybrooke this whole time and they had certainly scoured the town looking for her. Every available hand had helped them cover the territory within Storybrooke's boundaries from the dwarves to Robin's Merry Men, if they hadn't stumbled upon her—but then the Dark One couldn't cross realms and Emma didn't have the scroll that would allow her to pass through the town line.

So where had she been all this time and why hadn't she returned before? After weeks of living under the Dark One's curse, what had become of the savior?

"And? Is she—different?" If Snow White had already faced her daughter and told David of her return as if it were good news, then Emma must have some measure of control over the Darkness. Regina knew the savior had great light magic but that didn't mean it couldn't be twisted.

A shudder ran down her spine, thinking of the feeling of Darkness snuffing the light from her body.

Henry. Robin. Roland. She thought of the people she cared for like a mantra in her head. _The darkness won't have me again._ But did it already have Emma?

"We don't know, she's been unconscious since we found her." Then they wouldn't know how she had been effected by the darkness in the last few weeks, if she was even still the same Emma. She could wake up an entirely different person than the one they knew before. She could be an uncontrollable force of darkness for all they knew.

Miss Swan's unconsciousness also meant that they still didn't know where she had been and why she returned; they wouldn't know until she woke up and could tell them if they had even been on the right track to finding her. Regina supposed that at the very least now, they might be able to convince her to use the added power of her magic to find the wizard.

"Have you told Henry?"

"I tried calling him but didn't get an answer, is he still at the mansion?"

Regina glanced down at her watch; she had left Henry with the pirate in the mansion hours ago. It wouldn't surprise her if they were still there, the two of them were alike in their drive to find Emma and even though she had expected Henry would be back by now, he recently had spent several long nights researching in that library. He must not have heard David call his phone.

"I left him there with Hook hours ago but I'll go get him. He'll want to see her right away." They both would, she imagined.

She quickly hung up with David assuring him she'd have Henry there in the next hour, she smiled thinking about how happy he would be to be. It was odd, that she could now be so happy to see her son reunited with his other mother. It would make him happy and that was what mattered most to her.

Regina breathed in, soon this would all be over, and they could all get on with their lives. She could live out her happy ending with Robin and maybe the town could finally go back to being the quiet, quaint place it was supposed to be.

Regina thought about how nice it would be to get a peaceful life with her true love Robin, her son Henry, Roland, and now Robin's second child. Zelena would always be in their life as the child's mother, but the witch would have to share her son or daughter with Robin and Regina, and Regina would get to help raise another child, like she had raised Henry. It was more than she ever expected, getting to raise a child with the man she loved, even if the circumstances were less than desirable.

Of course, first they still needed to find Merlin to relieve Emma of the Dark One's curse.

"Looks like we won't be needing your books to find Emma after all." Mr. Gold gazed back at Regina with a perplexed look on his face as he entered the room with a few new books, courtesy of Belle's searching, in his hands.

"And why is that, dearie?" He asked, setting his load on the counter and leaning heavily on his cane.

"David and Mary Margaret have found Emma. I'm leaving to tell Henry now." Regina didn't miss the spark in Gold's eyes when she gave him this news. He hadn't expected Emma to suddenly turn up in town, none of them had, and now his mind must be calculating his next move.

She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, wondering if she should have told him anything to begin with, maybe it would have been better if she had waited until after she had checked that Miss Swan was still herself before she let Gold in on her return. _Too late for that now_ , she supposed.

"Why, that's wonderful news." Emma was safe with her parents for now, they wouldn't be letting her out of their sight after the past two weeks, and Gold was a powerless, crippled old man. He wouldn't be able to get past Snow White or her Prince to attempt anything on their daughter.

Satisfied enough that for now she could leave the former dark one to his shop, Regina grabbed her purse and left the shop.

If she had looked back, perhaps she would have seen Mr. Gold turning the pages through the book she had been reading.

* * *

Emma wasn't sure exactly where she was.

She remembered the old hag, Madam Mim, casting her spell, the odd language she had spoken as her voice had grown louder and louder, almost booming throughout the cave. Then a vortex had opened up in front of her and she had felt herself sucked in the same way she had been by the darkness, and then falling and falling until at last, there was nothing, and now here she was. Only she didn't know where "here" was.

She had made a deal with the witch so that she could be free of that cave and so that she could give herself and Henry their best chance at getting away from all the horrible things their life in Storybrooke seemed to bring them. She wasn't sure if Madam Mim had kept up her end of the bargain though or had simple thrown Emma into some new sort of prison or test.

In return for her aide, Emma had promised to bring Madam Mim her dagger for reason she was still unsure about. If the woman had been telling the truth then the trade could do her little harm and it would give her access to all the realms. With her new power, she and Henry could start a life anywhere. But then, Emma still couldn't completely trust the woman.

She couldn't trust anyone.

"Emma?" She heard a soft voice call out to her. A warm hand was stroking her face, she realized. "Oh Emma."

The voice was far kinder than the harsh, hawkish sound of Madam Mim's speech and the hand far gentler. It was then that Emma realized that she did, in fact, know where she was. She was in her own bed, in the loft she shared with her parents. Moreover, the unknown voice was not so unfamiliar; it was her mother talking to her.

As she concentrated on the feeling her mother's hand on her face, she thought she would have to plan her next moves carefully. She hadn't expected to run into anyone so soon upon returning to Storybrooke, evidently Madam Mim's portal between the realms was a rougher form of realm travel than she was used to. At least, now she knew the mad woman had been telling the truth about sending her back.

Her parents must have found her, wherever she had landed, she might've appeared on this very bed. If her mother knew she was here, then surely the whole town would know by now of her return. _So much for slipping in and out quietly_ , she thought.

Maybe this could work though, upon her appearance in Camelot she knew her dagger was not with her but now that she was back in this realm, she could almost feel it in the air of the town calling out to her. Her parents might know where it was located and once they told her where it was, she could take her son and run.

She felt her mother stroke her cheek and she wished she could pull away from her. The affection made her stomach churn; _this is the woman who abandoned me. My mother who replaced me. My mother who lied to me._

Emma had to feign sleep though, for just a little longer while she worked out her plan. Once she had the dagger and Henry, something told her that Madam Mim would be prepared to open her a portal back to Camelot, the old hag seemed to have a way of knowing such things. No need to worry about her escape then, no one in this town could follow them once they were in Camelot. Not even Regina, _the woman who stole your son. The woman who ruined your life and disrupted every chance you had at a happy ending._

She would pretend to love them all. That's how she would get her dagger back.

Emma wasn't sure how long she had been in Camelot but they had all seen her disappear. Of course, they were a trusting bunch of heroes, they would want to see Emma for the precious little pushover she used to be, their savior. _Never again._ She would play the savior for them for now, just long enough to get what she needed and go.

They would want to believe her so badly; they would be like putty in her hands. Emma resisted the urge to smirk at the thought of how easy it would be to fool them all.

She took in a deep breath, and opened her eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

**I own nothing!**

* * *

Following in the direction of the dark smoke that was pooling into the clear sky, Killian and Henry emerged from the woods out onto a large plain of grass. A small village was visible just down the slope of the plain, the black smoke marking its location like a dot on a map.

"Henry, I want you to stay close to me once we reach town." Killian looked ahead at the boy walking ahead of him, anxious to both see what was causing the massive pooling of smoke and to reach people who might know where they could find Merlin.

"Got it. Do you think—" Henry's voice cut off as he tripped on something in the grass and fell face first onto the ground.

"Alright lad?" Killian asked as he rushed over to help him up.

Henry was already almost to his feet when he reached him. "Fine, just tripped on—this."

Henry held up a large wooden shield, its edges splintered from wear and use. Killian noted some dark splotches along the sides, most likely dried blood, and guessed it had been used in some former battle on the plain.

"Leave it here, best we hurry along to the village." Henry dropped the shield onto its former location, while Killian surveyed the area around them for more signs of battle. The hopeful feeling he had had since arriving in Camelot was being rapidly replaced by a growing fear that something wasn't right about the place.

This same nagging thought flared up again once they arrived at the village itself, which was like a madhouse.

The smoke, which blessedly had alerted Killian and Henry to the presence of the village, was not coming from any simple barnyard fire that Killian had seen in many smaller villages in the Enchanted Forest. No, this was coming from a much larger fire that was quickly engulfing the huts along the farther end of town just past the square Killian and Henry had entered from the plains.

Black smoke pooled from the hut roofs, covering the sky above. The villagers themselves were everywhere, some running in an effort to avoid touching the flames and others attempting to put out what they could using the few buckets of well water at hand.

A quick glance around the square they were standing in revealed that this fire was not the only problem the village was facing. Many of the other buildings around the square bore broken doors or shutters knocked off their hinges, broken carts were left forgotten along the dirt road through town, and from what he could tell those villagers not outside viewing the fire were wearily fixing doorways and clearing the street paths.

It was one of these villagers, whom Killian approached to question, "What happened here?"

The man he had approached had just finished sweeping up a pile of glass from a broken window, one hand running through his large red mustache as he muttered to himself. "Those—blimey—damn soldiers is what! Coming through here like devils—what are they—you're going to light the whole—", and the man took off toward the flaming buildings, Killian and Henry watching him go.

"Soldiers?" Killian turned to see Henry looking critically at the rest of the town. "I bet that shield I found came from one of them."

Henry would receive no argument from Killian, some sort of passing army had clearly sacked the town. Henry had told them all that Camelot fell into ruin after Arthur's death and Killian imagined this was what the book had meant, if a group of soldier could come through any village and leave it in such disarray, then Camelot was surely a dark place.

"You there!" Killian turned to see a large man in chainmail approaching them. Killian and Henry exchanged a look, debating whether or not to run from the man approaching. Was this one of the soldiers who had ransacked this town and left it in pieces? If so, what was he still doing here.

The man was tall and muscular, with bright red hair parted down the middle of his head. He was wearing dirt covered silver chainmail and though it seemed to be limited some of his movement, he gripped his sword in his right hand with clear intent to use it, should Killian and Henry decide to take their chances and run.

"I'm Sir Kay, knight of the realm." Kay said as he approached them, glancing over them and crossing his arms, "I've never seen you two before. Who are you and what do you want?"

"Just passing travelers, Sir." Perhaps it was his years in piracy that put him off knights and lords, but Killian didn't feel comfortable asking Sir Kay about where to find Merlin.

Kay snorted, "Odd time to be traveling, what with the war."

Killian and Henry shared a glance. Outside the village, the forest they had wandered through gave no evidence to any war.

"Another war?" Henry asked.

Kay's brow furrowed, clearly Henry had asked an odd question. "Where did you two say you were from?"

"We didn't." Killian didn't like where this was going. "Let's be off now, Henry."

"That might be a problem." Henry replied. Killian looked up in front of them, where evidently more guards had come forward, blocking their path out of town.

Bloody brilliant.

"I'm thinking you two need to come back with me to the castle." Sir Kay made a gesture with his hands and immediately the guards took Killian and Henry by the forearms.

"We haven't even done anything!"

Kay was ignoring them by now, instead he turned to the nearest guard, "Let's let the old geezer have a look at them. I think they're lying, just look at their odd clothes."

The guards who had them pulled out some rope and Killian felt his hands being tied and then the guard was pulling him forward toward a wagon just off the town square.

"Up." The gruff voice told him and he was hoisted up into the wagon bed, the rope handcuff adjusted so that he was locked to the wooden railing. Henry was similarly tied next to him, the lad didn't look too worse for wear but Killian could imagine the lecture he'd get from Regina once she found out about this.

Sir Kay leaped up onto the seat of the wagon next to another knight and with a slap of the whip on the horses backsides they were off, headed out of the village.

Not wanting to get too far from the village but also not wanting to see where Kay was taking them, Killian immediately began working on the rope around his wrists. A pirate was a master at removing handcuffs.

He was just beginning to loosen the rope on his wrist when he heard Henry say, "Wait, don't."

Killian looked at the boy with one eyebrow raised, he must know that they were both headed for some type of imprisonment. "Henry—"

"Just trust me okay? I have this weird feeling—I think we're on the right track." Every instinct told Killian to ignore Henry's words and get them both out of that carriage. However, the lad had proven himself so far and he was a smart boy. If he wanted Killian to trust him, well, he supposed it might be harder to get them out of this later but he could most likely still do it.

He nodded and settled down for the ride.

As they rode, the village slowly became a dark spot on the hillside, the sky above them changing from the black smoke of the village fire to clear, blue sky.

More forest surrounded them but the wagon was secure alone what seemed to be a somewhat cleared dirt road, although every now and again the wagon would stop and Killian would see Kay jump down to clear some boulder or fallen tree branch from the path of the horses. During the ride, and in these momentary stops especially, Killian tried his best to memorize the terrain around them.

Mostly it was the same forest view, until after just a few hours ride the trees began to thin and the forest opened up to wide grass fields. He watched as the wind blew through the grass making it bend like waves across the ocean. Distantly he began to hear the noise one commonly heard when approaching a larger settlement.

Turning his head out toward the road ahead he finally saw the castle looming ahead, its high walls dark and dreary against the bright sky. The castle itself seemed situated upon another hill and what appeared like cliff's edges. An optimal place for a castle and a much harder place to escape with only one visible exit.

He really hoped Henry knew what he was talking about.

As the wagon made its approach, Killian heard Kay call out ahead, most likely to more guards, and then the harsh grating of an iron gate being lifted to allow them into the castle courtyard.

Once inside, Killian really started to worry about escape. It was much harder to escape from inside a castle then from captivity outside.

The wagon jolted to a stop and Kay along with the guard driving the wagon jumped down, more men coming to aid them in taking Killian and Henry out from the back. The relief he felt at having the rope handcuffs taken off was short lived when the guard immediately took him by the forearms, turning to Kay.

"Lock 'em up boys." Sir Kay called out, turning his back on them to make his way up a staircase and out of sight.

The guards who took Killian and Henry dragged them along another route, a hall right off the courtyard leading down to the dungeons. The men tossed them one after the other into a single cell, closing the gate and locking the door behind them.

If they were going to be staying a dank cell, they might as well get comfortable. Killian took a seat on the cold, stone floor and leaned against the wall, not a hard thing to do when there was little room for anything else. Henry followed his example only on the adjacent wall, fidgeting with his hands as he sat.

"Killian." He finally heard the lad call after they had been sitting in the dim cell for a little while.

"Aye?"

"Do you love me mom?" The question took him by surprise; he turned his head to the boy to see him still leaning against the wall, eyes glued on his fidgeting fingers.

"I do." Surprised by the question or not, there hadn't been a moment of hesitation in his mind to Henry's question. Emma may have only just told Killian she loved him two weeks ago, but Killian thought he might've loved Emma from the day they met.

Even if he hadn't known it then. Just like, she didn't know it now. Only, he thought she must know it, he was sure that he had made his thoughts of her, of _them_ , very clear to her. And Emma would never have told him how she felt if she hadn't been sure he felt the same.

"That's good." Killian thought that was to be the end of it and turned back to staring at the ceiling, still thinking of Emma when Henry continued, "I was a little worried, you know, since you hunted the Dark One for so long, that you might still be looking for revenge."

That threw him, he turned to Henry again, "Henry I would rather die than hurt your mother."

Henry, finally, looked up at him, "I just had to be sure."

Killian would've pressed him further, to see where these questions were coming from all of the sudden, after weeks of working together to find Emma, when the prison door flew opened, making a loud bang as it hit the wall.

An elderly gentleman stood in the doorway. He looked rather cone like, adorned in a dark navy robe with a thick brown belt around the middle and a tall pointed hat upon his head. A long white beard hanging down past the man's chest stood out against the dark color of his robes, and Killian wondered just how old he might be when he marched over to their cell, spring in every step.

"It's about time you two showed up!" He cried, pulling out a set of keys to unlock their cell door.

"Who—"

"The name's Merlin." Killian leapt to his feet, eyes wide while the man—Merlin—continued, "And you are Killian Jones and Henry Mills."

He jiggled the key he currently had in their cell door and door came flying open, clanging against the cell wall.

"It seems we need to get you two back to Storybrooke—right place, wrong time, it's a wonder anything gets done around here—now then. Shall we?" With that he turned, striding off out of the room, leaving Killian and Henry to trail after him.

* * *

"Oh thank heavens! Emma!" Emma's mother cried when she opened her eyes. The woman wrapped her arms around her daughter and Emma tried to act like she enjoyed it. If Emma didn't know any better she might believe that her mother was being sincere in her concern and affection, but Mary Margaret was just the type of person who made you feel loved, until you realized you weren't.

"Mom? How did I get here?" The lies came out easily enough and Mary Margaret seemed to buy them.

"Emma, don't you remember?"

"The last thing I remember is taking the dagger from Regina."

 _And every moment after, when you didn't come for me,_ Emma thought.

"Emma." Mary Margaret leaned back from her daughter, her eyes downcast, Emma wondered if the woman was actually going to admit what she figured, that they'd moved on without her. "Emma, when you took the dagger—you disappeared. It's been two weeks."

Only two weeks? It had felt like months, years even, but she believed her mother's words.

"We've been looking for you nonstop—everyone, myself and David of course, and Regina, and Gold—"

"Gold?" Gold was alive? The last time Emma had seen the man he was barely clinging to life.

"Yes, the apprentice was able to help him." She paused in her speech, glancing back behind her toward the stairs, "Emma, you must be starving, let me get you something to eat—or drink?"

She moved to get up but Emma grabbed her wrist. "No wait, I want to know everything that's happened in the last—two weeks. What about Henry?" Henry was the one she cared about, where was he? Had they even let him know she was here?

"You'd be so proud of him Emma, he's been working nonstop to find you." Of course, he was, Henry was the only one who really cared. Emma wondered if he'd been working in secret against Regina's wishes. Mostly likely, the woman probably had him locked in his room. "Him and Killian."

Killian.

Emma realized she hadn't thought about him since she was in the cave, but his name seemed to ring through her head and pull at her chest.

Where was he? She suddenly felt that she needed to see him. She wanted so much to throw her arms around him and breathe in his scent. He _should_ be here.

He wasn't.

 _He's left you, just like everyone leaves you. He doesn't love you. He's never loved you._

Oh, that's right. At least, that's the realization she had come to sitting in that cave in Camelot. Henry loved her, he was her flesh and blood, her son, but the others—they didn't love her, they couldn't possibly. That's why she had to get away from them. She needed to take Henry and leave.

"Where's Henry now?" Henry is the one she needed to see. She needed to get her son away from these people.

"I think Regina is bringing him with her right now, they should be here soon." _Good_ , the sooner he was out of her hands the better.

"What about the dagger—what happened to it?" Emma stretched to look around the room thinking her parents must be keeping it close.

 _Where are you hiding it? I know you have it._

"Don't worry Emma, it's safe." Emma wanted the woman to get up and bring her the dagger but Mary Margaret wasn't making a move to leave Emma's side, "Killian's hid it."

Emma thought her face would give her away. She felt—outraged. Her parents had entrusted something so valuable to their _daughter's_ life to a pirate, whom she knew her father didn't even like! Did they care so little for her that they wouldn't protect it themselves—or would that place the burden on them to protect her and to risk themselves if anyone were to come try to steal it from them? Emma wondered if they had even considered for a moment keeping it for themselves before they pawed if off on the first person they saw—

 _Wait_ — _wait. That's not right,_ Emma told herself. Why was she getting so riled up by this? Of course, they would trust Killian with the dagger. As far as they knew, Emma loved him.

And she did.

Or she would, if he could love her. Which he didn't, wouldn't. So she wouldn't.

 _But what if he does?_

Killian had kept her dagger safe, according to her mother.

 _She's lying_ —a part of Emma was telling her, but it wasn't her lie detector. Her lie detector was telling her that her mother was being completely honest about everything. Then what was telling her that that was wrong?

Emma felt like she was at war within herself. Everything within her head was getting so jumbled. She felt like she was going crazy, her feelings of intense hatred were overwhelming all her motivations and her decisions but the longer she sat here with her mother the less she wanted to escape them all and the more she wanted keep the feeling of safety and belonging she could clearly see in her mother's eyes. Everything since she had found herself in Camelot had been so black and white but now…

Now, she needed to get her dagger from Killian, get Henry, and get out. She had to be sure of that at least.

"Emma?" Her mother's worried voice brought her out of her thoughts. "How about I go make some hot cocoa with cinnamon while we wait for David and Henry, you stay here and rest." Emma nodded absentmindedly.

She watched her mother make her way down the stairs and she waited until she heard her heating up the milk in the kitchen before she closed her eyes again, thought of where she wanted to go, felt the magic swell up inside her pulling her apart and molding her back together in a new location.

Emma opened her eyes on the docks of Storybrooke, the majestic Jolly Roger parked along the dock just ahead.

She would start here, searching for the dagger, there was no place Killian trusted more than his precious ship, it made sense he would hide it here.

As she rounded onto the gangplank to climb on board the ship Emma saw a figure appear on deck from bellow. The figure stopped when he noticed her, just as she stopped to stare at him.

Emma was face to face with Killian Jones.

The man she loved.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

Killian and Henry followed Merlin through the winding halls of the castle up into one of the towers and what appeared to be Merlin's own study. Piles of books took up the space on the long wooden tables that lined the walls, heavy shelves lined with variously filled glass beakers, and bottles hung above them. For all the disorder and obvious mess within the room, as Merlin shuffled them in, Killian felt that the man could tell him where any book, potion, or ingredient was located among the mess.

Once he had Killian and Henry situated within the room, Merlin shut and bolted the large wooden door. Why he felt that was necessary was beyond Killian but he supposed that perhaps the wizard merely liked his privacy.

Merlin turned and faced them, "Right-o, I'll need to get on with sending you both back, but first would either of you like a cup of tea?" He began looking through some of the mess on the first table, confirming Killian's earlier suspicion that it was in fact an organized mess when he pulled out one tea cup and an old clay kettle.

"What game are you playing wizard?"

"Oh, no, no games. It's bad manners not to offer guests anything when they come over, wouldn't you agree captain?"

"I believe we're less interested in refreshments than we are in information."

Merlin shook his head, "Suit yourself." He motioned for Killian and Henry to follow him across the cramped room over by the window where two large armchairs rested with a wooden stool between them. At Merlin's motion, Killian and Henry each sat down, Killian almost sinking into the armchair.

He wondered what Merlin's plan was, initially it seemed as if he was on a mission to send them back to Storybrooke but since they had arrived in his study, the old man had made no move to do so. The three men sat in silence for a moment, Merlin seemed to be content just observing Killian and Henry, waiting for them to make the first move.

"How did you know our names?" Henry finally asked.

"I'm sure you know I'm a very powerful wizard," With a wave of his hand, Killian watched as one of the larger books from across the room began flying through the air into the wizard's hands. He began flipping through the pages rapidly while they spoke. "I know everything—well almost everything—that has happened and will happen, it's one of my gifts. I knew who you were and that you were coming here before _you_ did."

Part of Killian wanted to ask Merlin why he didn't just intervene to begin with if he was so knowledgeable and stop everything before Emma became the Dark One. However, seeing this might be their only chance to question the wizard before he sent them home, Killian decided that rather than getting frustrated with the wizard he would ask, "Then you must know where Emma is?"

"Of course I do and I imagine you would like to know as well?"

"Aye, that was one of the reasons we sought you out."

"You'll be back with Emma in no time at all just as soon as I get you back to Storybrooke."

"Get us back? You aren't coming with us?" Henry had moved the stool closer so he could peer over Merlin's shoulder at the words on the book's pages, always the curious one.

"No, my boy. I'm afraid that won't be possible."

At Merlin's comment, Henry leaned away from him. "But the apprentice said you were the only one who could save my mom from the Dark One's curse!"

Merlin paused in his reading, "He should know better than to get involved in such things." His glance shifted between Henry's and Killian's faces, the one beginning to look lost with his only plan not going as planned and the other beginning to get angry with the old man's antics. He finally settled his gaze on Henry, sent the book back to its shelf, and said, "That doesn't mean I'm not helping your mother, Henry."

"Then you'll be able to remove the darkness?"

"Henry, I want to show you something." For a moment, the wizard disappeared through a door in the back of the study Killian hadn't noticed before. When he emerged he was carrying a sword, from the look of it, the blade was still sharp, dark splotches of blood and dirt were hardened along the gleaming metal, but the sword still seemed to glisten in Merlin's hands as if shimmering dust covered the blade and the dark golden hilt. Killian was sure this must be the legendary Excalibur, Arthur's sword.

Merlin sat back down across from them with Excalibur in his hands, "He was quite a special person, you know. Arthur was born to be a leader," he turned the sword over in his hands. "He was like a son to me. Of course, I knew all along what he could achieve and I tried to guide him best I could when he was a boy but…I always thought if I did the best I could we could avoid all the fighting and the bloodshed, that I might be able to keep the darkness away from him."

The sword seemed to dim as Merlin went on, as if the weapon itself was saddened by the loss of its possessor. "But when the battle started, I was stuck in the crystal caves by a woman named Madam Mim."

"Madam Mim?"

Merlin frowned. "Mim…is a very powerful enchantress. However, she's also a petty and manipulative old woman. She's turned our every encounter into a competition and somehow got it in her head that she needs to win and be more powerful than me to be happy."

He set the sword aside gently with great care. "It was Mim who brought the darkness to Camelot, I tried to combat as much as could, but…it wasn't enough. She was amassing too much dark magic in one place, using it to disrupt the very heart of Camelot." Killian thought of what Henry had read to them about the last days of Camelot, a knight having a dalliance with the Queen, infighting between men, and hate spreading throughout the land.

"I thought if I could face her, I could weaken her—she tricked me, had me trapped in the caves while her dark army destroyed Camelot. By the time I freed myself, Arthur was already gone. In my grief, I realized I didn't have the power to completely rid the land of Mim's darkness, but I could entrap it."

"You created the Dark One."

"I had an apprentice, a woman named Morgan Le Fey. I'd been training her since she was a young girl, she would've been quite powerful in her own right one day, but I guess that was never enough for her. I found out that she had been aiding Mim, helping her get to those within the castle itself. Morgan wanted more than light magic could give her, so _I gave_ her the power she always wanted."

"She was the first Dark One, you enslaved her to the dagger."

"I taught her a lesson, magic always comes with a price." The words sent a familiar chill down Killian's spine. Anyone who dealt with magic in the Enchanted Forest knew that the reward was little compared to the cost. Perhaps this Morgan was the first to so clearly demonstrate this lesson.

"How did the Dark One get out of this realm then, if Morgan was the first?"

"After I bound Morgan to the darkness Mim had amassed and the dagger, I sent her through a portal away from this land. I knew I had let Mim become too powerful in her dark magic so I needed to separate her from it. I gave the dagger to one of Arthur's knights, a man named Lancelot who wanted to make amends for his part in Camelot's end."

"What stopped Madam Mim from going after them?"

"Another spell, this one to trap her here in this land." Merlin paused. "Unfortunately, such a spell requires so much energy that in casting it, I trapped myself here as well in these bundling medieval times. As long as I stay here in Camelot though, Mim can never leave so she will not be able to destroy any other lands as she did this one."

"Well clearly the dagger didn't stay in Lancelot's hands." Killian thought of all the terrible things Rumpelstiltskin had accomplished once he had control of his own dagger. "How could you be sure the Dark One didn't do to another realm what this Madam Mim did here?"

"I couldn't be sure but it was risk that needed to happen for the good everyone." Merlin got up to pace around the one window in the room. "While I can't leave Camelot, I still wanted to keep an eye on outside realms. As you said, I had to be sure the balance of good and evil remained a balance. So I created the authors," he nodded toward Henry, "with the help of my other apprentices, to be my eyes and ears in the outside world and make me a library of tales of good and evil."

That explained the existence of the library, though not how it ended up in the manor in Storybrooke. Under different circumstances, Killian would have liked to give in to his more explorative nature and question Merlin further. However, Emma was still missing and the longer they spent talking about books and histories, the less time they spent removing the Dark One's curse from her.

Merlin seemed to be thinking the same thing, he stopped pacing in front of Henry and placed a hand on the lad's shoulder, "Henry, after I've sent you back, you cannot use the key to the storybook to return here."

"We'll be needing to return?" It wasn't entirely unexpected considering they still needed Merlin's help to remove the curse from Emma and Merlin could not leave Camelot.

"You will find Emma. That I know." Merlin stepped away from Henry once again and with another wave of his hand more books began to fly up around him, their pages turning on their own. "Once you do, you need to bring her back to Camelot immediately; we've only as long as she is not completely overtaken by the darkness to remove it from her."

"What happens then?" Henry asked.

"I told you I realized I could not completely destroy the darkness myself, there's a balance to all this, in order to remove it from Emma and destroy it completely she's going to have to help me herself, which she very well won't do if she's fallen to the darkness." Killian's hand clenched and he found himself tapping his hook nervously on his seat. He knew Emma would never willingly fall to darkness, but he also knew that she had come close once, even if she didn't want to admit it. Moreover, he knew the pull darkness could have, in the last weeks seen she had disappeared who knew what the dark magic inside her had done.

"And why can't I use the key if it worked this time?"

"This place we are in right now is the storybook itself, which will always have a definitive beginning, middle, and end. When the sun rises in the morning I will be arriving at the castle of Sir Kay and his father Sir Hector, to begin tutoring a young man named Wart who will be a great King." Merlin glanced down at one of the books floating in front of him; Killian assumed by his smile that he had finally found the spell he was looking for. "You will find another way to Camelot, I've already seen that. Now you have to go do it!"

Before either Killian or Henry could speak, Merlin was standing on top of his chair waving his arms around and muttering strange words. Killian had never seen magic performed in such a way, in his every experiences with magic by the Dark One or Cora or even Emma the wielder merely held out their arms and thought about what they wanted to do. Watching Merlin as he cast his spell, it appeared as if he were performing some archaic ritual.

The wizard's eyes flashed and a door appeared in the center of the room. Dusting himself off, Merlin stepped down from the chair and gestured for Henry to open the door.

"How do we go to the real Camelot?" Henry asked before attempting to reach for the door handle.

"I already told you, you're going to figure it out in your own time. Oh! And don't be alarmed if at first I don't remember you, I seem to get a bit jumbled in time so my memory can sometimes be a big foggy."

With those words, the door blew open and Killian watched Henry step through before he turned back to the wizard. "You're certain once we go through this door we'll find Emma?"

Merlin smiled, "She's waiting for you Captain."

Killian frowned, that didn't necessarily answer his question, but before he could push the matter further, he felt himself be pulled through the doorway.

* * *

 **I apologize that this chapter took so long to post (and trust me I know all you really want is the Captain Swan reunion that I teased in the last chapter). I think I mentioned before that I've been abroad traveling so the last few weeks have made it nearly impossible to write anything but now I'm back and I will have much more time to focus on this story! Sorry for any mistakes in this chapter, I'm rushing to post this since I feel bad for not posting in the last two weeks!**

 **Thank you so much for reading:)**


	17. Chapter 17

Being pulled through Merlin's doorway was rather like stepping into another room. For once, Killian didn't find himself waking up on a forest floor or crashing against a whirlpool at sea, in a blink he was standing back at his quarters onboard the Jolly Roger as if he had just opened the door and walked inside.

It was unexpected and for a moment, Killian was unsure of whether he had actually returned to Storybrooke that is until a glance out the windows showed him the town with its landmark clock tower in the distance. So Merlin truly was quite the powerful wizard, it had taken Henry and Killian weeks of searching and research to even come up with the idea of using the key while with a snap of his fingers Merlin had been able to successfully transport them back.

Furthermore, according to Merlin they hadn't even actually reached Camelot, only the representation of its final days within the storybook. Meaning they would need to come up with another plan to reach Camelot in order to remove the dark one's curse from Emma. Killian worried that they had already wasted so much time finding Merlin that Emma could already be falling to darkness. His swan was a strong lass and she was one of the strongest forces of good he had ever seen but she was no stranger to dark impulses and it was only a matter of time before the darkness crept up on her, perhaps even without her being aware of it.

He worried that in the time it took them to not only find Emma but also find another way to Camelot it would be too late and he would lose another woman he loved to darkness.

At the moment however, what concerned him more than anything was that Henry was no longer with him even though the boy had certainly stepped through the doorway before he did.

Killian felt a slight vibration in his jacket pocket and reached with his good hand for his talking device. It was glowing green and to his relief Henry's name was flashing; Killian flipped it open, and held the device to his ear, "Henry?"

"Killian! I was worried you hadn't made it through, where are you?"

"The doorway deposited me on my ship, Henry, _where_ are _you_?"

"At my mom's. Listen, I'm going to call her and tell her what Merlin told us, you need to get my grandparents up to speed."

"Aye lad, I'll go talk to the Prince and Snow White right now." He said before closing the talking device and slipping it back into his jacket pocket.

With a final glance around the cabin, affirming to himself once again that he was truly back in Storybrooke, Killian made his way out of his cabin and up the ladder onto the deck of the Jolly Roger.

His mind kept wandering back to what Merlin had told them in his last moments with him, _she's waiting for you_. As far as he was aware, Emma's location was still a mystery. If Merlin was right and Emma was waiting that meant she must be in Storybrooke or somewhere they could reach her, but they had searched all across Storybrooke for weeks and had come up with nothing. Where could she be all this time that they could not find her?

Furthermore, Merlin seemed to believe that finding Emma would be rather immanent once Killian and Henry returned to Storybrooke, but that didn't mean he should begin to hope that—

Killian looked up as he stepped on deck and froze.

There standing on the gangplank looking just as he had last seen her, although perhaps somewhat disheveled, stood the woman Killian was in love with, her green eyes widening in surprise as they met his blue ones.

 _Waiting_ indeed.

"Emma."

* * *

"Emma." He called out at a whisper. His eyes were wide; Emma could tell he was just as surprised to see her, as she was to see him. Although, she supposed the Jolly Roger was his ship so she should have been more careful if she wanted to avoid running into him.

But then, maybe she had to admit a part of her wanted to see him. Emma had been thinking of him since she woke up at Mary Margaret's however, her feelings toward him were still a mixed up mess within her mind.

He was just as handsome as she remembered, although the picture of him she had conjured in her mind when she thought of him did nothing for the man standing before her. It was the eyes. When Killian looked at her, there was a whole world of expression and emotion in his blue eyes that could cut right through her. She couldn't look away from them.

Was he happy to see her, she wondered, or was the surprise she saw because he thought he was free to move on and now she was back. _He never said he loved you back_ , the voice in her head reminded her.

But did she give him the chance? Maybe if she had just told him sooner then he—would have disappointed her sooner just like everyone else—but hadn't he proved himself over and over again? Then again, she thought she had loved Neal, she had been sure then too, and look how that turned out. Comparing Neal to Killian wasn't going to get her anywhere, she had been through this argument with herself before, and she had decided that they were different men; she shouldn't judge Killian for Neal's mistakes. _Everyone has let you down._

That was true; everyone in her whole life had let her down.

That's why she had to get away.

"Emma." He said again, taking a step toward her, the movement startled Emma out of her own head.

She loved him.

He was standing in her way.

She had longed to see him after being isolated for so long.

He controlled her dagger. _He's hiding the dagger. Her_ dagger. The thought occurred to her that as long as Killian controlled the dagger, he controlled her, what if that was why she was feeling so confused. She needed to get the dagger away from him, which was her original goal, her reason for coming here; she needed to keep her mind on track. For herself and for Henry.

He was still coming towards her.

"Don't." She held up her arms. She wasn't completely sure what she would do if he reached her but she knew she couldn't trust herself if he did. "Don't come any closer, Hook."

"You won't hurt me, love." He said, taking another step toward her.

"Don't count on it." Emma felt her hands warm with power sparking along her fingertips.

He stopped. "I can see that you're not yourself right now, but Emma—you have to know we've been searching for you everywhere. Where have you been all this time?"

Emma couldn't tell him the truth about Madam Mim and the cave, she knew if she told Killian then her parents would find out, Regina, she might as well tell the whole town and then they would all try to stop her. However, something told her Killian would know if she lied to him now. If she ever wanted him to willingly give her the dagger then she needed him to still trust her.

"I'm not sure." She lowered her arms satisfied that he would not approach her.

"Have you seen your parents yet?" He asked.

Emma shifted her gaze back in the direction of her parent's apartment in town, she wondered if Mary Margaret had noticed that she was gone yet. "Yes."

He nodded. "I imagine you'll be your way to Henry then? He'll be overjoyed to see you."

"Are you?" The question slipped out of Emma's mouth before she could stop herself. Though she had to admit she was curious about how he would respond.

"Emma, I thought after all this time my feelings when it comes to you would be abundantly clear." It didn't escape her attention that he didn't say what those feelings were. Maybe because he didn't share hers. She watched his tongue run over his lower lip, a nervous tick of his that she had noticed, before he continued, "I have to ask, why are you here? I would have thought Henry would be your first stop."

Henry was the only stop she cared about but before she went to him, she needed to have everything else in place. "I need my dagger, Killian, and I know you have it."

He seemed to ponder her request for a moment, pacing back away from her on the deck of the ship before he responded, "Why? Why do you need it, Emma?"

"I need it. I can't explain why, you have to trust me." Killian surprised her when he only seemed grow angry—or was it frustrated?—at her response.

"It's been weeks since I last saw you and you're only here for that _bloody_ dagger?"

If Emma didn't choose her words carefully, he might never give it to her. What was a plausible reason for her to seek out the dagger, besides getting it out of the hands of those who might control her with it, although maybe that was reason enough…?

"I need to know it's safe, it's connected to me now."

"It is safe; trust me to protect it for you." It was Emma's turn to be angry. What right did he have to deny her _her_ own dagger? She hadn't wanted to believe it but now it was beginning to look like he really was keeping the dagger from her—to control her. To limit her. If he cared about her, he would let her be free.

"As long as you refuse to give me my dagger, I can't _trust_ anything you say."

"Then trust what you know in your heart. Emma you must know I lo—"

"Stop. Don't lie to me." He was manipulating her. He was using how she felt for him against her. Why had she ever thought he would be different?

"I'm not lying Emma, you and I both know I made my feelings clear long before you did."

"If you really feel that way then why won't you give me what's mine?"

"Because you're not yourself Emma!" He was looking at her, pleading with her, but she couldn't believe him. She couldn't trust him not when she couldn't trust her own feelings for him. "The Emma I know would never care more about that dagger than her own son."

Her eyes darkened, her words came out like a growl, "Don't tell me I don't care about Henry. I need that dagger _for_ Henry."

"You can tell yourself that but can't you see that the darkness that comes from that dagger will destroy you Emma. Please, let me help you." He was beginning to come toward her again, he thought he could get through to her, but Emma would not be swayed.

"I don't _need_ your help. I _need_ my dagger." She was done listening to him, if he really cared about her he would give her what she wanted and since he wouldn't she would have to take it. Her magic prickled at her fingertips ready for use. "You will regret not giving it to me when I asked."

* * *

 **Emma's been feeling pretty conflicted which most likely has to do with you know, being the dark one and what not. So we'll see what she does.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I own nothing!**

* * *

"Robin?" Regina was currently on her way back to her house to pick up Henry and give him the good news about his biological mother. Mary Margaret had told her that Henry seemed to be unreachabled, and since Henry wasn't answering his phone Regina decided to call Robin to give him the update instead. Unlike her son, at least her true love wasn't ignoring her calls.

"Regina!" Regina smiled when she heard his voice through the receiver. "Have you already finished at Gold's shop? Is there any good news?"

She thought for a moment about her suspicions regarding the former dark one, should she share these with Robin? It might be easier to figure out what was going on if she had help, but then again, if she was right and Gold was up to something shady then Robin knowing would only put him in danger and she wouldn't risk his life. She decided against voicing her concerns to Robin, at least for the moment. "No, nothing at Gold's but I do have some good news. Miss Swan has finally be located."

"You've found her? Where?" She heard him pull away from the phone to call out to his men, "Boys they've found Emma!" Regina wondered if they were out in the forest looking when she called him. With his Merry Men, Robin had organized a number of search parties for the missing savior and had covered the forest and more remote regions of Storybrook where the new Dark One could have been hiding.

"I'm not sure," Regina replied once she finally heard Robin readjust the phone on his ear while she opened the front door to her home. She was expecting to see Henry's shoes by the door, his backpack on the table, or some sign that he had made it back to the house earlier with Killian, but the house was as quiet and clean as it was when she left in the morning. "From what I've heard it sounds like she just appeared in the middle of town."

She put her hand over the receiver and called out, "Henry?"

Silence.

She wondered if maybe he was asleep in his room. That would certainly explain his lack of communication all afternoon. The poor boy had been working himself too hard in the last few weeks to find Emma. Regina could almost picture how excited his face would be when he told her that his biological mother was finally located.

"Is Henry there? He must be ecstatic."

"I'm just getting home to tell him," Regina said as she began to climb the stairs to the second floor. She was sure now Henry must've headed straight to his room when he got home. After all, his hard work had given him a breakthrough today and he definitely deserved the rest. "Did I tell you he found a storybook about Merlin today."

"Sounds like things are finally starting to go our way."

"Let's hope."

"Just think, after all this is over we can finally relax and be a family." Regina smiled at Robin's words. In the last few weeks although a majority of their time had been put towards finding Emma, Regina and Robin had re-affirmed their relationship. They were even thinking of moving in together once everything in town was settled again, it wasn't like Robin didn't spend most of his time at her home anyway, and Regina was sure Henry would be an amazing older brother to Roland and Robin's other, unborn child. It wasn't the prototypical family but there was love between them and that was all that mattered.

She knocked twice on Henry's door when she reached it but didn't wait very long for answer before throwing it open. "Henry?" she called into the room.

His room was empty, the bed still made from the morning. There was no sign that Henry had ever been back to the house since leaving for the wizard's mansion.

"Regina? What's wrong?" Robin called through the receiver after she hadn't said anything.

"Henry's not here." She felt her heart stopping, where could he be? Where could he be? He was supposed to be home hours ago, if he wasn't something bad might have happened. Why did she trust Killian to get him home, she should have brought him back herself. Then at least she would have been sure he was alright—now he could be anywhere.

"I'm sure he's around, he's probably just got caught up at the mansion, you said yourself he had a breakthrough earlier—"

"I sent him home with Hook hours ago! He should've been back by now." She walked out of Henry's room and began to pace the hall, throwing open the different doorways to search for any sign of her son.

"Listen, calm down, I'll get some of my men on it. Emma's been found, Henry will probably be much easier to locate."

"Emma might've been the one to take him!" Mary Margaret had said that Emma was unconscious but if she had woken up in the time since then, then with her new powers as the Dark One she had plenty of time to come after her son.

Regina heard a thump from Henry's room.

"Henry?" She cried again as she threw open the door.

There Henry was, standing in the middle of the room looking a bit ruffled but other than that exactly as he had been when she had seen him last. "Mom! I have so much to tell you!"

"Robin you can call off your men, he's here."

"See, it's all fine, I'll talk to you later."

Regina hung up with Robin and turned to her son, giving him a quick, tight hug before exclaiming, "Henry, _where_ have you been? Killian was supposed to bring you home hours ago—and how did you get in here?" She had just checked Henry's room and hadn't seen him, the window was still closed, and there was no way he could have snuck past her in the hall.

"Killian!" Henry's eyes went wide as he turned his head to search around the room before pulling out his phone.

"What has that pirate been doing with you all afternoon, Henry—look, I have some news—" Regina stopped when Henry held up a hand to her face.

Regina frowned. This was not the type of behavior she expected from her son. Here she had been trying to tell him the good news about his other mother and worrying about his safety when he was off who knows where with that pirate. Not to mention, she thought as Henry dialed and held the phone up to his ear, that since Henry was so obviously on his phone which he had clearly also been carrying with him then he must have been ignoring her calls and the calls of his family all afternoon.

"Killian! I was worried you hadn't made it through, where are you?"

Hadn't made it through? Made it through where? His words were making her even more concerned about how he had spent his afternoon. Had she been right about Emma or was there some new threat to worry about?

"At my mom's. Listen, I'm going to call her and tell her what Merlin told us, you need to get my grandparents up to speed."

When Henry hung up the phone, Regina was still standing in front of him with her hands on her hips. "What do I need to get up to speed on?" He had better have a good explanation.

Henry's face was alight. "It was the book Mom—I found Merlin! Or at least a version of him, we still need to find a way to Camelot but now I know it's possible!"

"Yes, I was at the mansion, I know you found Merlin in the storybook."

"No—I went _inside_ the book. I used the key again like before with Isaac." Before, he meant when they were all trapped in Isaac's alternate story. Regina had died so that they could get out of that mess and he had tried something like that all over again?

Regina sat down on Henry's bed. "Henry you could've gotten hurt, what were you thinking?"

"I know, I know. But Killian was with me and we _found_ him—"

"I told him to get you home, you should have called me before you did something like this! I was about to send Robin and his men out looking for you."

"I'm sorry." Henry said and the bed dipped as he sat down next to her. "You should call Robin back though, we should get everyone to meet at my grandparents so we can plan our next move."

"Our next move, why? What did you find out?"

"Merlin told us how the dark one was created, he said he could remove it from her as long as her heart wasn't overtaken by darkness." Henry paused. "He also said he was sure we would find her when we got back, and we're back now so she can't be far."

Regina sighed. Her son had been on a whole adventure and she hadn't had a clue. At least he was safe, she had to remind herself. He was also right; they did have to plan their next move. "Henry, that's what I've been trying to tell you. We've already found Emma."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! :)**


	19. Chapter 19

**I own nothing!**

* * *

In the past few weeks Belle had been splitting her time between research at the library and research at her estranged husband's shop. She'd say estranged because although neither one of them denied their feelings for each other there was still a rift between them left from Rumple's time as the Dark One. Not to mention that this Rumple was _different_ and she was still getting to know him for who he was without dark magic.

In many ways she was learning that this new Rumple was the man she always thought her husband could be, he was kinder, gentler, and more patient. He was also taking a special interest in his grandson Henry, his last link to Baelfire. Before, she had often thought that he might only tolerate Henry for Baelfire's sake alone but now she would watch them together when Henry came to the shop, in the midst of his research, and see a genuine love and light in Rumple's eyes.

It made her think even more about their time together in Isaac Heller's world, when they were happily married with their own child. She could watch Rumple with Henry as he shared a number of old books and allowed him to search through various objects around the shop and picture what this Rumple would be like if they had a child of their own running around the shop.

However, she had to push these thoughts aside; she wasn't even sleeping in the same room as her husband, with Rumple still sleeping in the cot in the back room of the shop while Belle stayed in their room in the main living space. If they were ever going to get to that point in their marriage, they would first need to get through this bump.

It wasn't that she didn't forgive him for his time as the Dark One; she knew that the Dark One's curse was more complex than she could understand. Sometimes she would hear Rumple having nightmares in the other room about the things he did before he was free of it. It was in these moments that she wanted to comfort him but she also didn't want to give him the hope that she was ready to pick up where they were before the lies tore them apart, one day that would be possible, but that day was still a ways off.

In either case, currently Belle was on her way to her husband's shop with a load of books from the library. He had asked her specifically to bring him some books on local botany, she wasn't quite sure why but she figured it had to do with some spell he was investigating. She wondered what spell it was, whenever she did find herself in the shop she would peek a glance at whatever book he was searching through or sometimes he would call her over to him and openly share with her his finding and ask for opinions. Most of the time he was looking locator spells or books on magical objects they might be able to use if they could find one.

"Belle?" Rumple's voice called to her, interrupting her thoughts, as she entered the shop.

"I've got the books you requested." She said only to look up and see him attempting to carry a large volume down from the top shelf, he was struggling on his bad leg, "here let me!"

She set the load of books she was carrying down on the counter and reached up, past him for the book he was trying to get.

"Thank you." He said when she handed t back to him.

"What's this for?" she asked,

"Just following up on a few spells I found." He paused. "There's been a development."

"Oh? Have they found something?" Belle looked around and realized that they were alone. Normally, when she came in David, Regina, or one of the others was around rummaging through the stacks of books and objects, looking for anything useful.

"It would seem they've found Miss Swan."

"They have…that's wonderful!" She paused. If they found Emma, there was no need for a locating spell. "What is this spell for then?"

"Belle, do you trust me?"

She loved him, that was true, but trust was a different matter. Had he gone the past few weeks without doing anything to damage the trust they were building? Yes. However, he had gone far longer before with her believing him to be a good man only to be heartbroken when he caved to dark impulses. Supposedly, he was now free of that temptation to darkness but after so many years as a slave to it, she didn't want to but she still wondered sometimes if he would ever truly be free. "I suppose I'm still figuring that out."

"I can understand that. The others don't."

"They have good reasons." Because of her love, she could always see the goodness inside him, even at his worst. The others didn't have that; they only ever saw him as the villain so it would be even harder for them to accept his change. "But I can see that you _are_ different now."

"Not really." He flipped open the volume she had gotten down for him, his fingers tracing the words on the pages, "When I was the Dark One I felt…constantly paranoid, I trusted no one but myself."

"I know." It had taken him so long to trust her, to give her the dagger, and even then, he hadn't really.

"It was as if there was something in my head urging me to make the choices I made, to distrust everyone. They were _my_ actions I know, but when I think about all I've done…" his fingers paused on the page and he shook his head, "I don't know why."

"Why what?"

He sighed. "It's hard to explain if you've never felt it and aside from Miss Swan and myself no one else has."

"Maybe you'll be able to help her then." If Emma was back then she was going through everything Rumple described and as the only person in Storybrooke who could understand her, maybe he could temper her until they were able to remove the darkness from her.

"They'll never let me near her. It's as I said they don't trust me." He flipped a few pages in the book then looked up at her. His eyes met hers and she found she couldn't look away. "I promise, what I'm working on is to help Miss Swan but you have to trust me."

He was looking at her so earnestly; she wanted so much to believe him in that moment.

"I think I do."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Look forward to seeing the Charmings, Henry, and Killian again soon :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**I own nothing!**

* * *

When Henry entered his grandparent's apartment, Regina in tow, he was hoping to see a warm, family scene. He pictured his grandparents sitting around his mother on their small couch sharing a few cups of hot chocolate and exchanging tales of the past few weeks.

That was his dream scenario when he opened the door.

What he got instead were his grandparents, seated on the couch like he imagined but instead of a joyful reunion with their daughter, David had an arm wrapped around his wife and they both sat with troubled expressions on their faces. Baby Neal was cooing softly in his cradle.

"Where's my mom?" Henry asked as he entered the room turning from the scene to race up the stairs towards his mother's room in the loft. Even though he could tell when he entered that something was wrong Henry still hoped if she wasn't with her parents then maybe he could find Emma resting on her bed. Instead, when he reached the loft, all he saw were empty floral sheets.

"Henry." He heard his grandmother say from below, remorse in her voice, "I'm sorry Henry."

"What happened? I thought you said she was here." Henry heard his mother Regina's sharp response.

"She was. She was resting upstairs before..." Snow trailed off, rubbing her temples, David's hand making soothing circles on her back.

"Where did you find her?" Henry asked as he came down the stairs again, slowly this time.

"I saw her lying in the middle of the road, right where she had disappeared. She was unconscious so I called David to bring her back here."

She looked toward her husband, who continued, "After we got her back, I had to go finish something at the station, I was gone for maybe an hour. When I got home she was already gone."

"And you—you were with her." Regina pointed to Snow, "Did you see her wake up?"

"Yes, I was with her."

"And?" Henry's heart raced, "was she different?"

Snow White shook her head. "She seemed fine, completely normal." Her expression changed, she folded her hands in her lap. "She was confused. She said the last thing she remembered was taking the dagger."

"How is that possible, she's been missing for weeks?" Regina wondered to herself aloud, pacing the floor. "Why did you leave her alone?" She turned to Snow.

"I came down to make cocoa—I figured it would comfort her—and when I went back up she was gone." Snow turned toward her husband who took one of her hands comfortingly.

"It's not your fault." David murmured to her.

"I beg to differ." Regina was less forgiving, "you shouldn't have left her alone."

"It's done now; we'll just have to find her again."

"And how do you propose we do that? If you didn't notice we didn't do very well the first time."

Henry remained silent while they continued to argue.

Emma was found, that was good news. But she left before he could even see her, Henry felt a little as if she were abandoning him after he'd put so much time into searching for her. Why hadn't she come to see him yet? If she was really back, his mother wouldn't let anything keep her from him.

At least that's what it always seemed like before; maybe this new version of Emma didn't love him anymore. How much of the darkness had seeped into her heart in the past two weeks? Could she really no longer care about him? Was it too late to save her?

Merlin said they had to reach her before she was too far gone, but how far was too far? Henry would never give up on his mother but he wondered how much time they really had.

"She can't have gotten far."

"You forget, she's the Dark One now." Regina let out a frustrated sigh, Henry understood the feeling, "she could be anywhere by now."

"She's still in Storybrooke." They all turned at the sound of Killian's voice in the doorway.

"How do you know?" Regina asked as Killian made his way into the room.

"Because I've seen here. She was on my ship looking for the dagger." Killian leaned against one of the pillars, turning his hook around in his hand.

"Did she get it?" Snow asked in a worried voice, Henry imagined that his grandmother must feel as if anything Emma did now were her fault for not keeping her here longer.

"No but I gathered she's not leaving until she does."

"I should've realized something was off about her. She must've been _waiting_ for me to leave."

Killian turned to Henry, "It's not too late, lad."

"You think so?"

"Aye, Emma's still in there, there's still time."

"Time for what?" David asked peering between Killian and Henry.

"Tell them Henry." They all looked to Henry, with exception of Regina who already knew what he was about to explain.

"Killian and I spoke with Merlin," he began, "he said he could remove the darkness from her but only if we can get her to him before it consumes her."

"Henry how did you— _when_ did you talk to Merlin?"

"I used the key, the same one I used to reach you all in Isaac Heller's story." He glanced over at Killian who was still looking down at his hook, "Only it didn't exactly take us to Camelot, just a version that exists in the book."

"Then how do you know you can believe what Merlin told you, if it wasn't real?" Snow asked gently.

"He told us we would find her once we got back to Storybrooke and he was right—we did. We have to believe that everything else he said was true too." Henry couldn't imagine what he would do if everything Merlin said wasn't true. Merlin said it was possible to save Emma and Henry wouldn't accept it if it wasn't. There had to be way, believing what Merlin had told them just gave him a direction to go in.

There was a knock on the door.

"That's probably Robin, I told him to meet us here after he called his men off the search." Regina said walking toward the door, "I'll get him, although you're going to have to explain all this to him again."

"Perhaps this time his men will be able to track down Emma," Killian muttered, "now that she's back there can't be many places she could hide."

* * *

Emma wandered the streets of Storybrooke alone.

She found herself feeling more and more angry since her encounter with Killian.

 _I thought you were going to pretend nothing had changed._ That had been her plan to begin with, when she woke up in the loft. It had been so easy to lie to her mother and it would have made everything easier if they had all just naively believed nothing had changed. Then she had seen Killian and she found that she simply couldn't lie to him the way she wanted to, she couldn't pretend with him. That was worrisome. He couldn't be allowed to have that kind of power over her.

 _Why didn't I just kill him?_ She dismissed the thought before she could even consider it. Killian would need to be dealt with but she couldn't kill him. He was the only one who knew where her dagger was.

 _And that's not who I am_ , Emma thought to herself, _I don't kill people_.

 _That didn't stop you from killing Cruella._ Cruella was a mistake. Emma had been protecting Henry—or she thought she was.

Now the only way to protect Henry was the get the dagger. Emma would know where it was too, if she had just taken Killian's heart out and forced him to give it to her. He'd still be alive then. Could she do that to him when she was the one who put it back in his body the last time? Did she care? If she took his heart from him, he certainly wouldn't. Did she want that?

She should have stuck to her original plan. She was being impatient, clearly. She wanted to badly to just grab Henry and run that she was making silly mistakes.

At least she knew he had it, Killian had revealed that much to her.

Emma found herself standing outside Granny's diner. The last time she had been here, she had been celebrating saving the town. Of course, that celebration had only lasted about five minutes before she had had to run off to save Gold. Save. Save. Save.

The door chimed when she opened it, the diner was empty another stark difference from the last time she had been here when it was overflowing with people.

"Can I—Emma?" It was Ruby who came out from the kitchen to greet her.

"What's wrong Ruby?" The brunette peered at her from the doorway of the kitchen.

"They said you were missing. I-I didn't know you were back."

"I am and I'm hungry. I'd like some food."

"I'm sorry, Emma. We're about to close—you know Granny doesn't like me staying here too late."

Emma sighed. After the afternoon she had had, she didn't feel like dealing with this. "Do you know what I've realized in the last two weeks Ruby?" Ruby shook her head. "I can't trust anybody in this town. I keep saving all of you and for what? So you can just keep lying to me. I'm done."

Before Ruby could speak, Emma was there. It amazed her how quick she could move, how easily the magic aided her without her even consciously asking it to. It was electrifying.

 _Now I wonder…_

She thrust her hand into Ruby's chest; she could feel her heart in her hand. This was what it would be like if she did this to Killian. Emma could feel the power in her veins coursing through her; time seemed to still as she gripped Ruby's heart. Emma was suddenly, desperate to get her frustrations out and Ruby was there. One good squeeze and it would be over. _That's how powerful I am._

The door chimed. "Emma?"

Emma's eyes never left Ruby's face, which cringed in pain as Emma tightened her grip on Ruby's heart. "What?"

"They said you were back." Lily's voice answered.

Emma looked down at her arm within Ruby's chest. _What am I doing?_ There was no reason for her to want Ruby's heart or even to want her dead. She had done nothing to Emma or to Henry. Killing her would be wrong.

Emma let go.

"What _happened_ to you?" Ruby said as she gasped for air, looking back at Emma with a bewildered expression on her face before running out through the back door.

Emma whirled around to face Lily. "I thought you would've been long gone by now. Surely you're not here for your mother."

"I'm staying to find my father."

Emma let out a bark of laughter. "What makes you think he's even here?"

"It's the only place I have to look." Lily sat down on a barstool and leaned against the counter, "Don't you remember when we were kids and we would talk about finding our real parents."

"Except you already _had_ parents." When Emma had first met Lily, she thought she was a runaway orphan like Emma was herself, then Lily's father had shown up.

"They weren't real."

"It doesn't matter." When Emma was a little girl, she had dreamed of parents who would come and rescue her but they never did. Now she had parents and all they did was cause her pain. "The 'real' ones aren't worth it; you might as well leave now."

Lily eyed Emma inquisitively. "You're different."

"Not really. I just see things more clearly now."

"I want to help you."

Emma narrowed her eyes. "Why would you willingly want to help me? You hate me."

"I hate your parents."

"There's something we can agree on."

Lily paused before speaking. "You need a place to stay, somewhere they won't find you. Stay with me. In return, I want your help finding my father."

Emma laughed again. "Is that all you have to offer me? I don't need to make a deal for shelter, I can just take it." She glanced back in the directed Ruby had run off in.

"Wait."

"I'm growing tired of you Lily. Don't test my patience." Ruby had done nothing wrong and look how Emma had treated her; Lily was already someone on Emma's bad side so who knew what she would do to her. Emma couldn't trust herself not to harm Lily just as easily as she had found herself harming Ruby, letting off her frustrations on people as if they were her playthings.

"I can get in with them."

"With who?"

"Your parents, the mayor, that guy with the hook, that's who you're hiding from isn't it? I can get in with them; tell you what they're planning." Lily said with determination.

"How do you expect to do that, things don't ever exactly go as you plan Lily." That was always Lily's problem, she'd have these grand ideas, but then she'd muck everything up in the end. Emma didn't need someone who would prolong her time here, she needed to get her son and her dagger and get out.

"And whose fault is that? Help me find my father."

"Why come to me? What makes you think I'll be able to find him if your own mother can't?"

Lily stood up, meeting Emma's eyes. "They're saying you're the Dark One now and from what I've learned that means you're the most powerful person here. You're the one of us who gets things right so do this for me."

Emma considered Lily's offer. Emma had ruined her chances of convincing her family to trust her, at least once Killian told him what had happened between them, and Emma didn't doubt that he was already spilling his guts out to them right now. Taking his heart would be an easy next step to get what she wanted but it would also require her to get him alone again, which might not be as likely since they were all bound to know now that she was after the dagger. If Lily could get into their inner circle however, they would give Lily all the information Emma needed and Emma wouldn't have to lift a finger.

"You get me the information I need and I'll consider helping you find your father."

"Is that a deal?"

"I don't make deals. That was the old Dark One." Emma remembered what her mother had told her, _Gold is alive._ That was another problem she would have to handle.

"Okay." Lily let out a breath. "Fine. We'll do it your way."

"Good." Emma smiled. "Now, where is it I'm staying?"

* * *

 **Poor Emma is still feeling very mixed up, I wonder how Lily will get the Charmings to trust her? And how will they get to the real Camelot? As always thank you for following/favoriting/reviewing! And of course, thank you so much for reading :)**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or its characters.**

* * *

David had only just left with Robin when Ruby arrived at the apartment. The two men had gone to inform Robin's Merry Men that they were once again back to looking for Emma.

"You know they might kill me if this continues," Robin had joked as he and David headed out the door, "they're sure to be glad when this is all over."

"We'll _all_ be glad." Regina had agreed before giving her true love a quick peck on the lips when she thought no one was looking—although Henry had still caught her—and sending him on his merry way. No pun intended.

"Would anyone like any tea or coffee?" Snow asked once Regina had returned to sit with Killian and Henry around the Charming's small coffee table.

"No, it's getting late. Henry and I should be heading home." Regina said with a sideways glance at her son. Henry knew she was worried about him; after all, he had had quite the adventurous day, and even after it all, they seemed forced to start all over again from square one.

"I'd best get back to my ship as well." Killian added.

Snow and Regina shared a look across the table.

"Is that such a good idea?" Snow finally asked before Killian could get up to leave. "Maybe you should stay here tonight, just so you won't be alone."

"She's right; Emma knows you have the dagger. She'll be looking for any opportunity to get it from you and she's already threatened you once today." Regina agreed.

Under any other circumstances Henry would have thought the situation was comical—his mother, the evil queen, of all people siding with his grandmother, Snow White, to gang up on Captain Hook. Even with his mother's change of heart, they didn't tend to agree very often let alone gang up together.

Killian looked between the two women before sighing and nodding his head.

"Good. I'll make up the bed for you upstairs—or," Killian winced—Henry wondered if it had something to do with the prospect of sleeping in what was Emma's bed—and Snow changed her offer, "I can make up a bed on the couch for you although it won't be as comfortable."

Killian scoffed, "I've slept in far worse places in my life. The couch will do just fine."

Snow had just gotten up to get sheets from the closet when there was a loud thundering of knocks at the door.

"Snow! Are you home?" A frantic voice called out.

"Ruby?" Snow White ran to her door and pulled it open to reveal the brunette, still in her uniform from Granny's. Henry noticed that Ruby looked like she had run to the apartment from work, she was still wearing her uniform except her apron was askew, her hair was frizzing around her face, and her eyes had a wild look about them.

"Snow!" She cried, clutching onto her friend.

"What's going on?" Henry's mother asked, rising from her seat.

Ruby gripped Snow's arms, "I saw Emma."

At his biological mother's name, all heads turned to Ruby.

"Where?" Killian was the first to reply, jumping out of his seat, and rushing over to the two women.

"At the diner. I—I know you said she might be different, but—Snow—she tried to _take my heart_."

 _No_ , Henry thought. He felt as though he could barely look at Ruby, _you were her friend._

"Oh my goodness—here—Ruby sit down." Snow helped Ruby over to the living room chair Killian had vacated and wrapped a blanket around her friend's shoulders. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

Henry could see the regret on Snow White's face. This was just another occurrence she would blame herself for since Emma bolted from her care. He knew she would go on feeling the blame for anything Emma did to the town as the Dark One until they could remove the darkness from her.

"Ruby. I—I need to check…" Regina began. Henry looked over at his mother and realized what she was getting at. If Emma had succeeded at getting Ruby's heart, she could easily be controlling her right then and they would have no idea. They couldn't trust her until they were sure she was still in control of herself.

"You need to check my heart." Ruby stated clearly also understanding Regina's meaning.

"I'm sorry. Is it okay if I—?" Regina nodded towards Ruby's chest and held up her hand.

Ruby took a deep breath before nodding her head and Henry watched his mother plunge her hand inside of her chest. Ruby winced at the contact but it only lasted a moment before Regina gently removed her hand and wiping it on her pant leg said, "She's fine."

While Snow hugged her friend, Henry glanced around the room and spotted Killian still standing by the doorway.

He wondered if he was thinking about running back to the diner to see if Emma was still there. Henry almost felt the urge to do that himself. They both were worrying about the same thing, if Emma was willing to take someone's heart, the heart of one of her friends no less, then how much of the darkness had overtaken her own heart? Even if they did find her now, would it be too late?

"How did you get away?" Killian asked, turning back toward them.

"It was Lily."

"Lily?"

"I thought she was going to do it—take my heart—but then Lily came in and she stopped." Ruby let out a breath. "I ran here before she could do anything else."

"What happened to Lily?" Henry wondered what Maleficent's daughter had done to get Emma to stop from taking Ruby's heart.

"I don't know. I didn't see."

"Emma could be in danger." Lily hated Snow White and had once tried to kill her for what she and David had done to her before she was born. Henry could understand why his grandmother would think any reason Lily had to see Emma wasn't good.

"I think it's Lily you should worry about. Clearly, Miss Swan has begun to embrace her dark side."

Neal began to cry out from his crib.

"All this commotion must've woken him up." Snow murmured leaving Ruby to quiet down her infant son.

Regina looked over at Henry and from the look in her eyes he knew he must look as bad as he felt. All the action of the day was finally catching up to him. Not only that, but the recent developments with Emma were taking their toll on him and Henry was beginning to feel as if there really was a chance that they wouldn't succeed, that they had already failed, and he may never have his biological mother back again.

"We should probably go." Regina said, then she turned to Ruby, "We can take you home first though, your grandmother must be worried."

"Do you think it's safe?"

"Aye. She'll know you came here and she won't risk exposure." Henry thought Killian made it sound as if they were hunting her down. Maybe they were. Killian had spent the majority of his life hunting the Dark One, now it was no different.

There was no telling how much time they had before it would be impossible to reverse the curse and then they would really be hunting her, to _stop_ her instead of to save her.

* * *

Emma stared at her own reflection in the mirror.

She was standing in the room Lily had rented out from Granny for her stay in Storybrooke. For the night at least, this was her hiding place. People were wary enough of Lily as an outsider to not bother her and scared enough of her mother to avoid the place entirely, which was why it was the perfect place for Emma to hide right under their noses.

Emma turned her head to the side to get a different view.

Was that a flicker of something in her eyes or did she imagine it?

After their conversation downstairs, Lily had taken Emma up to the room and after letting her inside (and explaining to Emma the logic in her hiding place) had left her there to actually go and get them both food, since neither one of them had gotten anything from Ruby at the diner earlier. Emma had been pacing the length of the room when she had seen the flicker in the mirror. It happened when she was walking past and the lamplight caught something on her skin.

 _There_. Emma raised her hand to the collar of her sweater where she noticed a faint shimmer on her skin. It was nothing really, just a small patch of discoloration no bigger than the palm of her hand. It could easily be a patch of sunburn or a large birthmark, if Emma had ever had a birthmark there and if it wasn't almost shimmering in the mirror. And yet…Emma squinted her eyes at the reflection in the small bathroom mirror. She waved her hand over the spot, willing it to disappear and fade back to her natural color but nothing happened. If anything, the spot looked as if it might be slowly expanding instead of disappearing.

Emma rolled her eyes in frustration and with a flick of her wrist and a snap of her fingers switched out her white sweater, which was dirty and torn from her weeks of imprisonment, for a black one with a higher collar that wrapped around her neck. If she couldn't hide the discoloration with magic then at least she could cover it from view.

She wondered if Ruby had already told her family everything about their encounter. Emma still wasn't sure what had spurred her into trying to take Ruby's heart. There was no practical reason for it, it's not as if Ruby would have known anything about where Killian hid the dagger, and there was no point in killing Ruby either. If Emma was going to get what she wanted and quickly she needed to be smart and useless acts of violence were—she'd admit felt oddly thrilling but—a hindrance to her cause.

No, Emma would need to rely on Lily for now, who at least now was proving her worth by getting Emma food and giving her shelter. Then tomorrow Lily would have to prove that she was actually capable of everything she'd offered. Emma wasn't sure how Lily expected to get into the hero's inner circle but Lily had seemed confident enough and if that failed then maybe Emma would reconsider acts of violence as an option.

With a final glance at her appearance, Emma turned away from the mirror and went back to pacing the main part of the room.

* * *

 **As always, thank you for reading! And, thank you for all the lovely reviews on the last chapter!**

 **To** _ **hey-dairy-queen**_ **: I like your theory-we're on the same wavelength but you'll have to wait to see what actually happens;)**

 **Look forward to seeing Lily's plan to get in with the heroes and a second encounter between Killian and Emma soon!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon a Time or its characters!**

* * *

"What are _you_ doing here?" Snow White asked when she opened her front door, revealing Lily standing on the front mat. Snow had been just about to sit down to feed her son when the knock at the door had interrupted her and Lily was the last person she expected to see when she opened the door.

"Hi." Lily paused but continued when Snow didn't reply, "Can I come in?"

Snow's first instinct was to say no and keep the young woman out of her house and away from her son. However, always the one to give second chances, Snow reluctantly opened the door wider to let Lily in. "Uh, sure—I mean yes, come in."

Lily smiled—somewhat awkwardly—and moved past her into the open space of the apartment. Snow closed the door behind her and turned to face Lily.

Silence.

The two women stood facing each other across the room, their eyes not really meeting, and neither saying a word to break the awkward tension. Snow wondered why Lily had decided to come to her in the first place. Outside of their time in Isaac's storybook when they weren't really themselves, the two women hadn't spoken since Lily, in dragon form, had almost killed her.

"Can I get you some tea?" She finally asked when Lily still hadn't spoken.

"No, thank you." Lily glanced around the apartment. "Where's your husband?"

"He's out—doing some work with Killian, I think, at the library. Were you looking for him?"

"Not specifically." Lily bit her lip, her eyes avoiding Snow's gaze. "I want to help you."

That was unexpected. Snow furrowed her brow, "Help _me?_ With what?"

"I want to help you find Emma, save Emma, whatever. You all are doing that aren't you?" Lily placed her hands on her hips and Snow was immediately reminded of the same stubbornness she always saw in Emma.

But that didn't mean she suddenly trusted Lily. "Why would you want to be a part of that? You've clearly shown you hate us."

Lily sighed. "Look, as hard as this might be to believe, there was a time in our lives when Emma and I were friends. I still…care about her."

Neal began to cry out from his crib so Snow went over to hold him. As she soothed her son in her arms, she wished she could do the same for daughter, hold her close and keep her safe and never let her go. Snow felt like part of what was happening to Emma now, at least the part where she was missing again, was her fault for letting her out of her sight in the first place. Emma was her daughter; she should have been able to tell that something was wrong with her—that she wasn't _Emma_. Now Emma was God knows where and she could actually hurt someone if they didn't find her.

Emma didn't trust Lily. Snow was fairly certain of that. Bringing Lily in to help them would give them an extra set of eyes and hands though and Lily was the only one of them who had known Emma since she was a child and might know information about Emma from her past that could help them now. However, it could backfire on them, if Emma wouldn't listen to her own family then Lily's presence might only push her farther away. Lily might not even actually want to find Emma; she might just be looking for the Dark One's magic.

"Well?" Lily's question cut into Snow's thoughts.

"I'm not sure."

"You don't believe me?"

"I want to but—Ruby told me you were there last night at the diner when Emma showed up. What happened after Ruby left?" Lily had been the last person to see Emma as far as they were aware, she could have their only lead.

"Nothing. She just disappeared."

"That's odd." Why would Emma attack Ruby out of nowhere and then leave without a trace?

"It's what happened."

Something didn't feel right about Lily's answer and with Emma's soul on the line Snow wasn't willing to take any risks. She put a now soothed Neal back into his crib and turned back to Lily. "I've already let my daughter down too many times. I appreciate that you want to help, Lily, but right now I think it'd be best if you stayed out of this."

"You're kidding."

"If you see her again please let me know."

As Lily left the apartment, door slamming shut behind her, Snow turned to call David and make sure she had made the right decision in letting Lily go.

* * *

"I take it you failed." Emma said when Lily came storming into the room at Granny's. Emma was sitting on the bed flipping through a magazine she had found on the nightstand. Lily didn't even glance at her as she trudged past her to the bathroom.

"I didn't fail." Lily muttered while Emma could hear her splashing water on her face.

She knew she shouldn't have expected Lily's plan to work out so easily. Lily had never gotten anything right in her life; Emma couldn't expect that to change now, even if she had found her mother and the truth about the fairytale land that she came from.

"Then why aren't you off with the heroes right now?" Emma pushed the magazine aside. Lily wasn't the only one who had a right to be a little frustrated, Emma was putting her faith in Lily to find the dagger for her or at least get her information she could use about her hero-family. If Lily was already struggling then what hope did she have of ever succeeding?

"They just don't trust me, but they will."

"Will they?" It seemed that Lily had yet to accept failure and that while she seemed frustrated when she entered, she was still as determined as when she left.

"I've suggested that I want to help them and now all I need to do is _prove_ that they can trust me." Lily came out of the bathroom, wiping her face on a towel, and leaned against the wall.

"And how will you do that?" Emma crossed her arms over her chest. Lily might feel determined but Emma's patience was thinning with every passing second.

"With you." Emma felt a strange excitement replace her frustration as Lily's plan, not as bad as she had thought, became clear.

* * *

"We're under attack!" Leroy's cry sounded again as Killian and David rushed out of the library.

"Do you see anything?" David asked him once they were outside.

"No but I imagine if we wait a—"

"We're under attack!" Leroy cried again.

"That way!" The two men took off down the street toward the sound of the dwarf's cries. As they sped down the street, they began to hear more than just Leroy's alert, a car alarm in the distance, the crash of a falling cable post. Killian looked over at David and the two men shared a wondering glance, what else could possibly be going wrong in this small town?

"There!" David pointed down the road where Leroy and several of the other Storybrooke residents were racing toward them.

"Leroy! What's going on?" The prince asked, stopping the dwarf in his tracks.

"It's Emma; she's gone ballistic on the town." Leroy panted. Another loud crash down the street and the townspeople jumped.

"What?" Killian's heart started racing, _could it be too late to save her?_

"Where is she?"

"Back there." Leroy pointed back towards where they had come from, "If I were you I'd hightail it out of the center of town, there's no reasoning with her now."

Killian turned to David. "You get these people out of here, I have to find Emma." David looked torn between listening to Killian and ignoring him completely but finally, he nodded and began directing the townspeople back towards the clock tower.

Killian continued to race down the road, keeping an ear out for any signs of Emma. If he was to believe what Leroy said then Emma's condition was much worse than he feared. She was caving more and more into the darkness and before long, it would be too late.

"Looks like we'll get to finish our talk after all." Killian turned the corner down a side-alley and finally saw Emma standing before Ruby, her hand reaching out to plunge into the struggling brunette's chest.

"Emma!" He called out to her.

"Hook." Emma turned from Ruby to face him, a smirk on her face. Bloody hell. Was she _happy_ that he found her like this?

"Emma, let her go." Emma's gaze shifted back to Ruby who wasn't looking very inclined to leave Killian alone with Emma. "Ruby, get out of here."

Ruby glanced between Emma and Killian, although Emma had caught her twice now, Killian knew Ruby to be quite the skilled fighter in defense of the town, but he didn't need a fight right now. He just needed to talk to Emma. Ruby seemed to come to this conclusion as well and raced off in the other direction, no doubt to help David get the rest of the townspeople away from the area.

With Ruby gone, Killian though Emma would be less than pleased however, when her gaze met his again she still looked positively satisfied.

"Emma what are you doing", Killian started, keeping a hand out in front of him between them, "attacking the town like this will get you get you nowhere, love."

"I told you, you should've given me my dagger when I asked."

"Is that was this is all about? You're doing a fine job of proving you can handle all this on your own." He knew he was goading her and that that was bad form but he wanted to keep her talking long enough to give David a chance to get the people out and pull the cavalry together.

"You always told me to accept my magic, isn't this what you wanted?

"Emma, love, this isn't you. You would never use your powers to attack the town."

"I wouldn't have to if you would just give me the dagger."

She started to move toward him and a glimmer on her neck caught his eyes. "What's that on your neck?"

Emma stopped and her hand immediately went up to her neck, pulling the collar up on her shirt. "It's nothing."

"It's the darkness. I told you." He lowered his hand, if she wanted to hurt him she would have by now. "It's going to consume you if you don't stop."

"Then stop me, give me what I want and I'll go away."

"You know I don't want that."

"I _don't_ know what you want."

"Emma I—"

"Don't finish that sentence." She was close to him now, so close that if he reached out he could touch her. The last time he remembered being this close to her was the day she plunged the dagger into the darkness and got them into this mess. The day she finally told him she loved him. He forgot for a moment that she wasn't the Emma he knew—the Emma he loved—this Emma was cold and harsh and everything he had been when he had allowed darkness into his heart. However, just now, he could look into her eyes and forget all this so that he only saw the Emma he loved standing just within reach.

"Emma…" He gave into impulse and reached toward her but her demeanor changed, she threw out her arms, and he found himself flying back against the street. So much for her not wanting to hurt him.

He attempted to get up but was immediately forced back down by her power.

"You're making me angry, Hook." Her hands were getting brighter, not like when Regina threw fire and was holding the flame in her hand but in a way where Emma's hands themselves seemed to be burning light. Killian imagined this was what she had used to take down those cable posts and he wasn't thrilled to see what she would do to _him_.

He tried to struggle against the force of her power but it was no use, he couldn't fight the magic, he could only watch the woman he loved become more twisted by it by the second. It didn't help him either that David or anyone of the heroes he allied with seemed to be nowhere in sight.

Just as he thought Emma was about strike him again with her magic, he heard a cry from above and the winds picked up around them as a small dragon flapped its wings above the alleyway.

Emma was effectively knocked to the side by the wind and just as the dragon made a move to drop down into the small space she disappeared into the air, the magic holding Killian down disappearing with her.

"Are you alright?" Killian looked away from the spot Emma had just been to see Lily now standing before him, no longer a dragon.

"Aye." He took her offered hand and she pulled him up off the ground just as David ran up.

"Killian! Did you find her?"

Slowly he nodded his head, he was miserable that he failed and that Emma only seemed to be getting worse with time. "Is anyone hurt?"

"No, it looks like she just wanted to scare us."

"It looked like more than that from what I saw." Lily commented.

"Lily? What are you doing out here?" David asked, noticing her presence at the scene.

"He just looked like he needed some help." She pointed towards Killian as he continued to brush himself off. He knew Lily was right that he had needed her help then but he wasn't very keen on it. Mostly, he was just angry that he hadn't been able to get through to Emma in either of their last encounters.

"My wife mentioned that you offered to help us. Looks like you already are."

"I only did what anybody would do."

Killian stayed silent during their exchange. Emma wasn't just growing darker as time went by, with the darkness came more power. Right now Regina was the only one of them who might be able to match that if they wanted to restrain Emma enough to get her to Merlin. It wasn't the way Killian had hoped to get her there but right now, it seemed like their best option. If Lily could help them, perhaps by wielding the magic she herself was born with, that might give them an even greater chance.

"Looked like more than that to me." David paused looking over at Killian while he messed with the brace on his left arm. Killian knew David was thinking the same thing about Lily's magic and wasn't surprised when the prince continued, "Hey, why don't you come with me, and I'll show you some of what we've been working on."

* * *

 **For some reason this chapter was harder to write, I guess I was feeling somewhat uninspired this week, so anyway, sorry that it took a little longer to post than usual!**

 **Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews and for the new follows/favorites, I appreciate them so much!**

 **To the Guest who asked me about Emma's look: I'm kind of going for a bit of a mix of the Dark One looks seen previously on the show and the one we're seeing in the season 5 promos if you're looking for how to picture it! I don't know if that makes sense but it might be more evident later...**

 **As always, thank you for reading :)**


	23. Chapter 23

**I own nothing!**

* * *

"I told you I could do it." Lily announced when she returned to the room at Granny's where Emma was waiting for her. This time, Emma was rapidly pacing the room when Lily entered, her outing in town that day had relieved her of some of the frustration garnered by her impatience. However, having to back down to Lily during the middle of her conversation with Killian had left her pent up and angry again.

"Don't get cocky, you're not done until I get my dagger back." She replied, continuing in her path across the room and back.

"Of course, after your display today they're pretty determined to find you." Lily said as she leaned against the wall facing Emma, her head following Emma's movements across the room. Then, she added only slightly sarcastically, "They made flow charts and everything."

Emma snorted. "Let's just hope you can find that dagger before they decide to use it."

The thought had occurred to her that her now two outbursts in town, the first with Ruby in the diner and the second in the center of town, might give her family cause to tame her with the dagger. _As if they weren't already planning to use it…_

She assumed they had tried when she first disappeared, of course, it wouldn't have worked then, and they might think for now that if it didn't work then, then it wouldn't work now. Emma clenched her fist as she turned for another lap. They wanted to control her like they always had, make her their little savior again, always doing their bidding. Her recent actions had shown her how free she could feel when she stopped thinking about everyone else in town and just did as she felt. And what she felt was impatience for her dagger search to be over so she grab Henry and leave for a world where she'd be out of the dagger's bounds.

"Well maybe as long as you don't kill anyone." Lily interjected.

Emma stopped pacing and turned to her. "I was doing what you asked."

It was partly true, Lily had come up with the idea that she could stop Emma from "attacking" the town in order to convince the heroes to trust her. Although, Lily's plan just gave Emma an excuse to do what she wanted from the moment she returned to Storybrooke. She had never felt so free as when she let loose on the town and its people, consequences be damned.

Lily turned her gaze from Emma and took a breath. "They won't just show it to me, you know? It might take some more time."

Time was exactly what Emma didn't have. Her worries about getting Henry out and her family using the dagger aside, she also worried that if she waited too long Madam Mim would pull her back and she'd be stuck in those caves again.

Lily would have to work faster. Today she got her foot in the door with Emma's family but she was right to think that they wouldn't just let her in on all their secrets this quickly.

"You should follow Hook." Emma advised her.

"The pirate?"

"I know he knows where it is," Mary Margaret had told Emma he had hidden it and he had confirmed it to her. If Lily followed him, saw where spent his time and perhaps the places he went out of his way to avoid, "he's bound to slip up eventually."

"Okay, I'll focus on Hook." Lily paused and then smirked. "It might even be fun."

It must've been the way she said it or the look in her eyes but Lily's comment made Emma's blood boil. She could just picture her childhood friend cozying up to him, becoming his confidant in Emma's absence in order to get the information. Emma thought she shouldn't care how Lily got the information from Killian, the sooner the better, but the thought of Lily flirting with him or more importantly the thought of him caring for her…

Lily probably meant nothing by the comment but Emma couldn't help the severe—jealousy!—she suddenly was feeling against her.

"Touch him and I'll rip out your heart without a second thought." The violent words came out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

Lily straightened up at Emma's warning, although she looked confused by Emma's sudden concern for Hook. "Fine, I won't touch him."

Frankly, Emma was just as confused. She had seen him earlier that day and he had made her so riled with his words she almost thought her in her infuriation she could actually hurt him. Emma's first priority should be Henry. She couldn't trust Killian. Any feelings she had for him were just the residual effects of her naivety and ignorance to how he and everyone else in Storybrooke had been using her.

 _Try something new darling, it's called trust._ And look where _that_ had gotten her.

But that didn't mean she wanted Lily having her "fun" with him.

Emma sighed. She guessed at least for now, she was satisfied that Lily at least had some sort of plan for her next moves and that the plan wouldn't involve her cozying up to Killian.

"Where are you going?" Lily asked when Emma started moving for the door.

"I have to speak with someone." She answered shortly and let the door slam shut behind her.

* * *

When Gold hobbled out into the front room of his shop, large leather-bound book in hand, Emma was waiting for him. She thought she was well concealed in the shadows, at least well enough that no one outside would see her through the windows and she didn't expect for Gold to be looking too closely around the room when he entered.

Emma was debating the best way to reveal herself when Gold said, "I knew you would come here eventually."

She recovered quickly from her surprise; she should have realized a former Dark One would be more perceptive than most people, "Did you? How's that?"

"It's what I would have done a few weeks ago, if I were in your place."

A few weeks ago, Gold was the Dark One, holding all of the power that Emma held now at her fingertips. Emma had had to deal with many of Gold's deals and schemes in the last few years and she knew that were Gold in her place now she would never have lived this long. He would have taken out any and all competition for his power.

Emma was unsure about what Gold's motives were now, since he no longer had magic to back him up. This was the first time she thought that she was seeing him completely powerless; he was almost pathetic, limping on his bad leg, his face drawn and tired. "What place is that?"

He was still standing by the register and had yet to make eye contact with her within the room. She wondered if he had actually seen her when he entered or merely sensed her there. "The former owner of your powers is still alive, what's to stop them from returning to me?"

"Are you implying I'm here to kill you?" Emma almost wanted him to suggest it, the more time she spent here in Storybrooke the more tense she felt. She had almost killed several times since accepting her new abilities, the desire was unfamiliar to her, but it was becoming a more and more alluring idea with every opportunity she had.

Finally, he seemed to find her in the room, his eyes locked onto hers. "Isn't that why you're here?"

So he was scrutinizing her, just like she was him. "I'm not going to kill you Gold, at least not right now."

"Then to what do I owe the pleasure, Miss Swan?"

Emma pulled down the collar of her shirt, not too scandalously but just enough to show him a glimpse the rough, shimmering skin spreading down her neck and chest.

Gold examined her from afar, as she did this, his eyes grazing over the slowly spreading mark. Finally, he looked back up and met her eyes once more. "How long has that been there?"

Emma tugged the collar back up on her shirt. "A few days. Do you know what it is?"

"I'm sure you remember Regina's sister, Zelena's, skin."

"I'm turning green?" The abnormality on Emma's chest, although mismatched with the rest of her skin, hadn't shown any signs of changing color to the emerald green seen on the wicked Witch.

"No." Gold stepped out from behind the counter, coming closer to where Emma was still standing in the shadows. "Zelena's coloring came out of her jealousy of her sister; yours is coming from your magic."

"Then tell me how to stop it." Emma ordered. Killian's words were ringing in her ears, _the darkness will consume you._ It wasn't that she thought he was right about what was causing the change in her pallor. However, she didn't like that the mark was something she couldn't control even with all her power.

"I can't." Not the answer she was hoping for, Emma didn't even realize she was practically growling at the man until he added, "You can threaten me all you like but you're becoming the Dark One all on your own, dearie. You've clearly accepted the title, now you're getting _all_ the effects."

Emma would have said more but there was a noise in the back room and Belle's voice called to them through the wall, "Rumple? Is someone in the shop?"

"You'd better leave before someone notices you're here." He spoke quickly and quietly so Belle wouldn't hear them although the look on his face was almost challenging her to remain.

Emma scrutinized him carefully for another moment before she decided that he wasn't going to tell anyone she was here, at least he wouldn't as long as she left before Belle caught them.

"Rumple?" Emma just barely heard Belle say as she entered the room.

However, Emma herself had disappeared in a puff of smoke before Belle could even catch a glimpse of her and before Gold answered, "Sorry, Belle, I was just putting away this book. Shall we retire?"

* * *

 **A very Emma-centric chapter, t** **hank you for reading! :)**


	24. Chapter 24

**I own nothing!**

* * *

"Would you stop with that?" Killian asked for the umpteenth time. It had been three days since Emma had attacked the town, proving that not even the Savior could fight the darkness forever. It had also been three days since Lily had joined them in searching for a way to help Emma and in those three days Killian and scarcely gone a few hours without the girl appearing at the library, the manor, even Granny's when he was there.

"What?"

He had been the object of women's attention before. Prior to meeting Milah and even after her death he had welcomed the attention, originally as any young man appreciate the attention of a fair lass and then later to help him forget his longing for his dead love. Now though, he had Emma or at least she had him and no woman's attention would compare to what they had or would have if Emma wasn't cursed.

"Lily."

"I'm observing."

Killian gave her a tight smile. "I'm flattered, really, but you're not here to gaze at me."

Lily rolled her eyes and slammed the book in front of her closed. "This is getting us nowhere."

"You said you wanted to help." When David had decided to let Lily in on what they'd been working on in last weeks, Killian had had mixed feelings. He still couldn't bring himself to fully trust the girl, not after everything Emma had told him about her and the effects Lily's presence in Storybrooke had had on Emma. Since then, his opinion of her had changed very little except that he was curious as to what reasons she had for being with them.

"Yes, I wanted to help _Emma_ but nothing in these books is doing anything for her."

Killian sighed and rubbed his hand across his face, three days of this was getting tiring. "We've told you before, finding Merlin—"

"Helps Emma. Yes. I realize."

They both went back to silently reading and Killian was glad he no longer felt Lily's gaze on him although he could tell she was still restless. David had originally wanted to put her on scouting duty thinking that she could transform and search for Emma from the sky, however, Lily claimed that she was still learning to use her newfound abilities and wasn't ready for the task. Instead, he had put her on research duty—which was how Killian ended up spending his days in the library listening to her complaints and answering her questions.

"Look, you saw her the other day," Lily started again, "She's completely lost herself."

Anyone else in town would have believed that easily enough. Emma was behaving like any of the other villains they had faced only it hurt them more because she was supposed to be their savior. It would have been easy for him to just agree that Emma was losing herself, hadn't he told her that very thing three days ago? But to say that she was completely lost…there was a moment when she was coming at him, when he had thought he had pushed her too far just before Lily had swooped in…but even then, he couldn't say he actually thought Emma would have killed him.

"Not completely." He murmured.

"Well then it's only a matter of time." She pressed. "Can I ask you a question?"

Killian nodded. At this point, he knew Lily would never go back to work unless he humored her.

"Why haven't you tried using the dagger on her?"

Her question surprised him. It wasn't that the thought hadn't crossed his mind, particularly after they knew Emma had at least returned to Storybrooke, how easy it would be to simply call her to him. However, thinking about the idea more had left him with two concerns. The first being that once he called her to him they still had no way of getting her back to Camelot and Merlin was still their only chance of getting rid of the darkness. The second was the he himself had been unlucky enough to experience what it was like to be under the control of someone else, his time without a heart being one of the worst in his long life. Killian didn't think he could ever subject Emma to that.

"It wouldn't be a very good idea considering we still have no way of getting to Camelot." He finally answered.

"But you have it, don't you?"

Again, her question made him pause. "I'm afraid I can't answer that."

"It's simple, do you or don't you?"

"It doesn't matter," he said, "so long as _Emma_ doesn't have it."

Lily looked like she wanted to press him further but then she relaxed. "You're right."

"Here." _A good walk might do the girl some good_ , he decided. He handed her a pile of books he had set aside with turned down pages for Belle to review, "Why don't you take these to Belle, it'll give you a chance to get out of this library for a bit."

"Yeah, sure." Lily took the books he offered but looked more annoyed than anything to be given the task. Her leaving however, allowed him to return to his research unperturbed for at least a little while.

* * *

"There you are." Lily turned to see Maleficent, her biological mother, come up beside her on the sidewalk.

In the weeks since they had officially met, Lily's biological mother had made numerous attempts to bond with her. Their talks were the main reason Lily was able to control her dragon transformation when "saving" Hook from Emma. While Lily wouldn't consider herself anywhere near close to her mother or even approaching that, Maleficent was proving herself as a very good teacher when it came to Lily's newfound abilities.

"What do you want?" That being said, Lily still felt independent from her mother and didn't want her sticking her nose into all the plans she had been working on.

"I'm your mother, don't you think I would've liked to know that you were getting involved with the heroes." Maleficent, for a woman who had missed her child's upbringing, Lily thought was also surprisingly good at a mother's chiding tone.

"I'm doing it for Emma." Lily replied, passing ahead of her mother and continuing to walk towards Gold's shop.

"Because she's done so much for you."

Lily paused mid-stride. "Look, I'm not in the mood for any mother-daughter bonding right now."

She had been doing what Emma asked and sticking close to Hook for the last three days. The only problem was all the guy ever did was sit in the library and research which was becoming increasingly boring as the days went on especially considering Lily wasn't actually there to do _work_. Regardless of this, if Emma was right and following him would lead her to the dagger then Lily needed to get back to the library as soon as possible so she wouldn't miss any of his actions.

"Why are you really helping them?" Maleficent pressed.

"I told you—"

Maleficent pulled her aside, cutting her off. "The truth."

Lily debated telling Maleficent any more than what she already had. Mother or not she certainly couldn't tell her about her deal with Emma and that was really why she was doing any of this.

"I told you, the reason I'm still here is to find my father. If I do this, maybe they'll help me do that." It was as close to the truth as she could get but far enough away that it wouldn't rouse suspicion if anyone had heard her.

"Be careful with them." Maleficent said, "They're not here for people like you and me." She was referring to the time surrounding Lily's birth, the reason they both had to hate Snow White and her Prince Charming.

"I need to get this done." Lily pulled away from her mother and this time Maleficent let her go without another word.

* * *

Killian finished reading the page he was on, now that Lily was gone he could actually focus on what was in front of him instead of wondering about her motives. Granted, he realized some of what she said was true. These books were getting them nowhere; in fact, they hadn't come across anything since he and Henry returned from within the book only to find Emma escaped and harassing the town.

He kept thinking back to their chat with Merlin. They were running out of time with Emma, clearly she was getting worse by the day and with no luck on getting to Camelot soon, she might do worse than wreck a few street lamps to scare people. She was changing before his very eyes and there was nothing he could do about it.

During their last encounter, Killian had noticed that Emma's appearance was changing into how he remembered the crocodile appearing in the Enchanted Forest. Killian hadn't even recognized Rumpelstiltskin during their second encounter, after he had become the Dark One. He wondered if he would recognize Emma the next time he saw her or if by then she would be completely changed.

He pushed the book in front of him aside, there was no use reading now, without even being here Lily had ruined any chance of him getting work done.

Her behavior the last few days had been strange, certainly. Killian never would have guessed the lass would be the one to rescue him from whatever Emma would have done let alone that Lily would actually want to help Emma. In the weeks since Emma's disappearance she had done nothing to help them search for her nor shown any interest in doing so, so what changed, he wondered. Why did want to help them now? She certainly was throwing herself into the thick of things too, the last three days of research had been filled with her asking him questions just like today on everything they had figured out in the last three weeks.

He stood up, taking some of the books on the table that he or Lily had been through earlier that day with him to the back stacks of the library where most of them came from. As he stuck the books back in their respective places on the shelves, Belle wouldn't leave him there alone if she thought he would do otherwise, his eyes landed on another book across the stacks. It was tightly stuck in the middle of the fiction section of the library, but the spine of the book was sticking out slightly from the rest as if it had been recently opened and put back.

Killian was tempted to go to it but with a sigh, he shook his head and put the last book in his hand on the shelf in front of him before returning to his research. Perhaps now that the space was clean he could actually focus on the material.

Lily arrived not a moment later, an odd expression on her face, but she said nothing as she sat down next to him and reopened her book as well.

* * *

Lily was worried that she might've lost her cool when she returned to the library. She was sure look on her face would give her away after she walked in and saw him back there—she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before! All this time…

For once when she opened the door to her room at Granny's she was actually excited to see Emma there, examining herself in the mirror.

"You'll never believe this." Lily said as she entered.

Emma gave her a brief glance before turning back to her reflection, "Have you found something useful?"

"I think I know where your dagger is."

* * *

 **This chapter got a lot longer than I thought it was going to be! There should only be about 5-6 chapters left in this story so it should be picking up after this and I'm hoping to time it so that it ends just before Season 5 begins (which I am sooooo excited about). Thank you for the all the great responses to the last chapter, I truly appreciate every single person who reads this story!**

 **That being said, thank you for reading!**


	25. Chapter 25

**I do not own Once Upon a Time or its characters.**

* * *

I love you.

 _He couldn't get her voice out of his head. He kept hearing her say it over and over…I love you. I love you. I love you._

 _I love you too. Why hadn't he said that? Instead, he had just stood there gaping at her like a fool while the woman he loved vanished right before his eyes._

I love you.

 _How long had he been waiting to hear those words? And then she had the nerve to bloody sacrifice herself for Regina. It wasn't fair, they had come so far to be together, they were finally happy, and now this._

 _Killian pushed open the library doors, Belle would still be at Gold's shop tending to her husband, but he didn't need her here. He just couldn't go back to his ship yet or stay there on the street with everyone, the spot where Emma stood mocking him. He had to do something._

 _When Liam died, he had thrown himself into revenge, into becoming a pirate to get back at the King who had sent them to Neverland in the first place._

 _When Milah died, he had thrown himself into revenge again, only that time against the Dark One and returned to Neverland to bide his time till he could kill the crocodile._

 _Emma wasn't dead. Her name on the dagger inside his jacket proved that. No matter how badly it hurt that she was gone it wasn't the end, he wasn't about to start mourning her when she was still out there and he could save her. He just had to figure out how._

 _A glance around the library revealed that the chart they had used when attempting to release the faeries was still pushed against the back wall of the library, where Belle had moved it after they succeeded. It seemed like so long since he had spent hours in a day staring at that board, wallowing in his own self-guilt over his actions. They would most likely be starting a new one for Emma._

 _Instead of getting the board ready for the others' undoubted arrival, Killian headed into the stacks of books to begin pulling out all the volumes he could remember that they might use. It wasn't hard since most of them came from nearby sections, a book on mythology here, and a few volumes on ancient artifacts there; quickly a new pile was forming on the desk. The rhythm of grabbing the books, stacking them in his bad arm, and bringing them over to be deposited on the desk kept him occupied for a little while._

 _It was on his third trip into the stacks of books that his eye was caught on a volume he hadn't noticed before._

 _Gold lettering along the spine of the book read:_ Peter Pan _._

 _Killian found himself chuckling grimly under his breath; Peter Pan was the boy partly responsible for his brother's death. The boy was an imp, malicious, a trickster and yet here in this world, he was a hero, the boy who wouldn't grow up. Emma had mentioned the story to him before and the moving picture version, both including a very different version of himself and of Peter._

 _The book made him think of his last time in Neverland, Emma had been with him then, that was where he had vowed to win her heart—and where they had shared their first kiss. He might've told her he loved her then, if he had ever thought she would share the feeling._

I love you.

 _His hand found the dagger within his jacket and he pulled out to look at it, his eyes roaming over the letters inscribing her name. Killian glanced back up at the volume on its shelf,_ Peter Pan, _and suddenly he was standing just before it, his hand reaching out to pull the book out of its space._

What am I doing? _He thought to himself, as he opened the front cover with his hook. The book was a larger volume, clearly made to look striking in someone's study, on a shelf. The dagger, which he had set on the shelf in the book's place, would be just long enough…he used his hook to make a rip in the pages, it was rough and ugly and it would take some time but he had plenty of that at least._

 _Belle might kill him when she found out—oh well, the lass will just have to get over it—with a large enough hole he might be able to—there! Laying the book flat on the shelf he used his good hand to shove the dagger into the space he had made. The cover wouldn't lay flat when he tried to close it again but once he lodged the book back between the others on the shelves no one would be the wiser._

 _When he was done, he gave a final glance over the section thinking that at least now no one would suspect where he was keeping the dagger, it would be safe, and it was still close enough that for him to keep his eyes on the one thing that was left of her, for as long as it took him to search for Emma._

* * *

Emma let out a breath as she watched Killian leave the library. Now was her chance.

She closed her eyes, envisioning the library, and felt the—now familiar—sensation of her magic moving through her. When she opened them, she was inside standing next to the front desk.

A quick glance around the room assured her that she was alone. Although she could see all the telltale sights of an investigation, the flow chart mapping out everything they knew, piles of books both opened and closed across the desks, several old coffee cups sitting variously around the books, and a few jumbled post-it notes crumpled and variously littering the floor. It was the system she herself had been a part of, before she had come to her senses.

Emma ran her hand along the covers of the books laid out before her now.

" _I think I know where your dagger is."_

" _What?"_

" _I don't know why I didn't think of it before—he spends all his time in the library, I thought it was just for the research but today I thought I saw something, I think he's hidden it there."_

Lily wasn't sure exactly where it was, but after spending days cooped up in that tiny room Emma was glad to get out and do some of her own investigating. It was a good theory too, who would suspect the pirate to hide something so valuable in the public library?

She had searched his ship already, to no avail, and even the surrounding boats, the dock was his safe space. Emma had even been contemplating going on her own little treasure hunt along the beach, desperate as she was the whole "pirate hides his buried treasure on the beach" theory was something she was at least willing to investigate.

However, as she walked around the deserted library Emma felt that her dagger could not be far. It was as if she could almost sense it, the way she had when she first returned to Storybrooke. They were connected, her and the dagger, and when she closed her eyes and relied solely on the instincts of her magic, it wasn't impossible to think she could key into that connection.

When she opened her eyes again they landed on a stack of shelves not far from where she was standing, as her eyes swept over the line of novels she noticed one in particular book packed too tightly near the middle so that its spine jut out slightly.

Her eyes narrowed in on it, for years before she had even known about the existence of magic Emma had been a skilled bounty hunter with keen investigative skills, she could tell there was something distinctly off about the novel when compared to the rest. Further inspection revealed the title to be none other than _Peter Pan_ and Emma smiled as she pulled it from its shelf. Of course, he would pick _this_ particular novel. Neverland was the place he had hidden for decades—years and years that Emma realized he still hadn't completely shared with her, now he hid her dagger with Peter and Neverland.

She pulled open the cover and there, smashed between the pages of the story of the boy who would never grow up, was her dagger. The name _Emma Swan_ inscribed along the blade.

It was strange to finally hold it in her hand again after so long, the last time being when she became the Dark One. It seemed lighter now than it had when she had flung it into the mass of darkness but then it also made _her_ feel stronger, freer, knowing that from now on there could be no one to control her. Emma finally—finally!—had the dagger back in her hands and now she could go to Henry and rid herself of this place, forever.

* * *

It was an odd weight at the end of Henry's bed that alerted him to the presence of someone else in his room. He turned his head from his pillow and looking up at the shadowy figure, mumbled in a sleepy voice, "Mom?"

"Henry." Emma whispered, moving up closer to him to run her hand along his hairline, her touch was as gentle as he remembered even as he was realizing she seemed tense and alert.

"Mom! What are you doing here—" He began, becoming more aware and sitting up in bed. It was almost a relief to finally see his biological mother again, a part of him had been worrying that the reason she hadn't come to see him yet was because she was so far gone she no longer cared about him, an even smaller part of him, the part still left from growing up adopted, felt abandoned again.

"I had to make sure everything was ready." Emma moved away from him and peaked out the door, no doubt looking for Henry's other mother. Remembering that this Emma _wasn't_ the Emma who was his mother is what kept him from being fully relieved to see her and throwing himself into her arms.

"Everything? Mom, what are you talking about?" He knew he should call for Regina; his adopted mother would come running from her room down the hall. However, he still didn't know just yet, what Emma wanted or why she had appeared in his room in the middle of the night and keeping her here at least meant someone knew where she was for the first time since she had reappeared in Storybrooke.

"We're getting out of here, Henry. These people, this place, it's not safe for you. Our only chance at happiness is if we get out now." Emma said coming away from the door and pulling up his backpack from where it was set on the end of the bed.

"Getting out of here? You're not making sense." He saw a flash of something on her skin, just along the wrist of her sweater. "Mom—what's that on your wrist?"

Emma didn't even glance down at the wrist of her sweater; she only pulled the sleeves down murmuring "It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Henry didn't believe her but he thought maybe he could reason with her, "It's not nothing, Mom, let me take you to grandma and grandpa's, they can help you—"

"Here," She threw the backpack at him, ignoring his words, "grab everything you think you'll need."

He pushed the backpack aside. "This is the curse talking, Mom, not you. You could never leave everyone who cares about you behind and if you were in your right mind right now you'd see that."

Emma, who was pulling clothing out of his closet and dresser drawers, stopped when she heard him, "Henry, I know what I'm doing. I'm perfectly in control, in fact I'm better than that, I'm thinking more clearly now than I ever have in my entire life." She began packing the clothing into his backpack as she continued, "They don't care about us Henry, they only want us here so that we can save them from themselves, they're liars and they're selfish. You and me, Henry, we're not like them, you remember how great our year in New York was? We can have that again, she can give us that, we just need to go."

Emma was practically shaking as she spoke. Henry wondered what she meant by _she can give us that_ , whom was she talking about? Who was working with her?

"I can't go with you—I won't."

Emma narrowed her eyes at him; clearly, he was trying her patience, now would have been the moment to call for Regina but Henry was worried he had waited too long and that Emma might snap if he did anything now. Henry had thought about what it would be like to see his mother now that she was the Dark One, he pictured her with cold, uncaring eyes, he pictured her throwing fireballs, he had even imagined Emma at her worst, taking hearts, but the reality of what he was seeing was completely unexpected. It was as if the darkness had heightened all of her insecurities, twisted them until they consumed her.

"Do you know what I found earlier, Henry?" Emma finally said, her demeanor softening slightly. When he shook his head, she pulled something up from where it was tucked on her belt loop; he was surprised he hadn't noticed it before. It was the Dark One's dagger. Henry was beginning to feel nervous. "They were keeping this from me, do you know why? To keep me under control."

"That's not the reason—"

"Regina, my parents, Hook, they can't control me anymore. We can get out of here and we're going now."

Henry was about to protest again but before the words could leave his mouth Emma's hand clamped down on his forearm and he felt magic rush around them as his room faded from his view.

* * *

They appeared on the main street running down Storybrooke; Henry recognized it as the same place he'd been told Emma had disappeared the first time. Now, she pulled him with her as she strode down the road, he still wasn't sure where they were going, but Emma looked more confident and determined than ever.

They were coming upon the end of the block when Henry thought he heard the sound of someone approaching them.

"Emma, what are you doing?" Henry turned, pulling against Emma's grip on his arm, to see Killian standing on the side walk.

"Killian!" He called. The pirate nodded to Henry but his eyes didn't leave Emma. Henry knew Killian had seen Emma since she had returned, twice, and that neither time had ended pleasantly.

"Get out of here, Hook, before I make you." Emma raised her other arm, the one holding the dagger and Henry saw Killian's eyes widen just slightly.

"Where did _you_ get _that_?" He was maintaining a jovial tone although Henry knew Emma must've thrown him for a loop. Killian had told Henry just after Emma disappeared that he had safely hidden the dagger within the library, seeing Emma with it now meant that she had figured out its hiding place and that they had no easy way of stopping her from whatever it was she was planning.

"It wasn't hard, not after Lily told me how much time you've been spending at the library." She still had her arm raised, she was still on the offense against him, but Henry could see Killian was making small calculated steps closer to them.

"Lily?" Killian asked, "I should've known."

Henry was surprised as well, he knew it was odd that Lily had wanted to join them but she had seemed genuine enough and with her history with Emma, no one would have suspected them to actually work together.

"Fine. You've got your dagger, now let the lad go."

"What, do you think I'm going to hurt him? Henry's my _son_." Henry realized that Emma was backing up with him. Wherever they were going, it must be close to where they were now.

"Aye, but I'm not so sure you quite know what you're doing, love."

"I'm getting us out of here."

"And going where?"

Emma stopped moving then; she took a glance around herself, although Henry wasn't sure what she was looking for, before she spoke, "I think we've talked long enough. Goodbye, Killian."

He was still too far away; Henry thought Killian would never be able to reach them in time for whatever Emma planned. However, she surprised them both when instead of simply disappearing in a puff of smoke, Henry in tow, the very air around them seemed to ignite with magic, the wind began to rush, and just as Emma moved to raise the dagger, Henry saw Killian lunge for them. He felt Emma's grip slip from his arm as Killian's weight was thrown between them. He heard her cry out for him once before in a blink, they were both gone.

Henry stood alone on the empty street. Killian and Emma had vanished into thin air.

* * *

 **The flashback at the beginning of this chapter is meant to be back at the start of this story, just after Emma disappears at the end of season 4 and after Killian leaves the group to go to the library. It's meant to show a little bit of his mindset when he hid the dagger and why he chose where he did.**

 **That being said, I didn't initially plan for the dagger to be where it ended up, when I was writing the last chapter it just sort of happened and I actually liked it better so I hope you all do too!**

 **Anyway, thank you for reading!**


	26. Chapter 26

**I do not own Once Upon a Time!**

* * *

Henry stood alone on the now deserted Storybrooke street.

The wind had died down, the magic in the air was gone, everything was completely normal again as if it were any average, cool Storybrooke night. Except that, Henry's biological mother had just tried to kidnap him from his bed and she and Killian had disappeared into thin air.

Henry rubbed his knee which was developing a bruise from where he had fallen after Killian had separated him from Emma's grasp. He could still feel her grip on his upper arm, the sound of her crying out his name when they separated echoed in his ears.

 _Now what?_ He wondered. Emma hadn't told him where they were headed and he suspected that it wouldn't be so easy for her to come back, at least for now. That meant Killian would be stuck with her now, wherever she was, and she would no doubt be very angry at him for ruining whatever it was she had wanted to do with Henry.

And what had she wanted with him? The Emma he saw tonight reminded him of how she used to be, before she settled in town with their family. She was desperate to get out of town, more desperate than he had ever seen her. Henry wondered if his safety was just what she was telling herself, or what the darkness was convincing, she was doing. He couldn't imagine whatever was waiting for Killian when he appeared with Emma would be good.

But Henry had to have hope, he was sure that the mark he saw on her skin was the result of the darkness infecting her. Henry figured as long as she wasn't completely transformed there must still be time to save her.

"Henry!" His adoptive mother, Regina's voice cut through the silent night and Henry's thoughts.

"Mom?" For the second time that night, he was surprised by the appearance of a mother. Regina was practically sprinting down the street to get to where he stood.

"Thank god." Regina murmured as she came up to him, grabbing Henry by the shoulders to hug him to her chest. "Henry, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, I think, but Mom how did you—", Regina hugged him once more, cutting him off.

When she finally let go, Henry realized that she holding her phone in her hand. Regina raised it to her hear, saying, "I found him, I found him, he's fine. We're around the corner from there—okay."

Regina turned back to him and took his shoulder and again for the second time that night Henry found himself being pulled down the road by one of his mothers.

"Where are we going?" He asked, hoping that this time, he might get an actual answer.

"We're getting off the street, I want to get you somewhere safe."

* * *

As it turns out "safe" meant Gold's shop which was only a block around the corner from where they had been standing on the street. His grandparents were there now, having shown up shortly after Regina had hustled him in, or he supposed he should say both sets of his grandparents were there. Belle had ushered them in when they entered, taking them to the back room where Henry could sit. Snow and David had shown up several minutes later to join them so that they were currently standing around him with Regina.

"They just disappeared?" Belle was asking him after he had recalled all the events since Emma had arrived in his room that evening.

"One minute she was gripping my arm, the next they were gone. Poof." He said, snapping his fingers. It occurred to Henry that he also didn't know how Emma had opened a portal like that in the first place, she had seemed very particular about its location though.

"And you said you found him on the street?" Gold asked Regina, Henry's grandfather might be thinking along the same lines. There was some reason she was so dead set on returning to that spot.

Regina nodded, "It was the exact spot Emma disappeared from before, I'm sure of it."

"Do you think there's something significant about the location?" David interjected also catching on.

Gold merely frowned.

Henry wondered if Emma would come back for him again. She was sure that once they were away they could "escape" for good, did that mean once she went through the portal she couldn't come back? But then Killian was with her and he was familiar with realm travel so perhaps he could get them back, if Emma couldn't. Henry kept replaying those last moments when Killian had shown up in his head. Emma had her dagger now, if she returned or if they somehow were able to find her, they had no sure way of stopping her.

It was while he was thinking about Emma and the dagger that he remembered, "Lily."

The adults in the room, who were still discussing the significance of his location amongst themselves, turned to Henry when he spoke. "What was that, Henry?" Snow asked, sitting down beside him.

"Lily's been helping my mom. I just remembered, she mentioned it before." _Before everything went to chaos._

A look passed between the adults in the room. Henry knew what they were all thinking.

"We never should have trusted her." David finally said, rubbing his temples, then turning to his wife he added, "I should have listened to you in the first place, Lily always had questionable motives."

They all should have known, they had all wondered what would move Lily to helping them. Snow shook her head, "You couldn't have known."

"Well now we do, so perhaps we should focus on bringing her in. She might know where Miss Swan has gone with the pirate." Henry could tell his mother was getting frustrated but if Lily was Emma's confidant while she was in Storybrooke these past few days she might have valuable information on where Emma was headed.

Henry's grandparents, David and Snow, understood that as well and nodded. With one last squeeze of Henry's shoulder Snow took her husband's hand and they headed to the front of the shop and out into the streets of Storybrooke no doubt to bring Lily in for questioning.

"While they're gone we need to figure out a way to make a portal, _now_. It's time we stop with all this dilly dallying." Regina turned to Gold, "I know you're working on something, what is it?"

Henry was surprised his mother was being so forward. Since he had lost his powers, no one could suspect Gold of anything. The man didn't exactly give off the evil mastermind vibe without the Dark One's powers backing him up. Sure, Killian still didn't trust him but that was something that would never change between them. To everyone else, Gold was just Belle's estranged husband who was trying to make up for his past crimes, apparently everyone else except Regina.

For his part, Mr. Gold took Regina's accusations very calmly. He came around to stand next to Belle, sharing a look with the librarian as he did. Henry wondered how much Belle knew of what Regina was suggesting but figured, since it was Belle, if she did know anything then it could only be something she thought was for the good of everyone.

"I'm afraid I won't be much help in what you're after just yet."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Gold's eyes shifted away from her, clearly he didn't want to discuss it.

"Rumple." Belle gave her husband a pleading look. The time for hiding things needed to be over. They were out of time, Emma needed them—or really Killian most likely did—now.

He sighed. "You're right, Regina. I have been working on something—although I'm afraid as I said it won't be much use to you."

Regina crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, tell me, what is it?"

Gold shuffled away from them in the direction of his desk, he returned a moment later carrying a large book in his right hand. Henry noticed that several of the pages were earmarked but he couldn't see the book's title or figure out its purpose.

Gold however, handed the book over to Regina, "Go ahead, open it."

Henry's mother flipped open the volume to the first of the earmarked pages, "It's a spellbook, from the Enchanted Forest." She flipped through a few more of the pages, "How did you get it here?"

Gold shrugged, "It came over in the last curse I suppose. Read the last page I've marked."

Regina's eye widened as she did so, making Henry more curious about what the book's purpose was. "What is it?" He finally asked when instead of sharing Regina read the page to herself.

Gold turned to him, "It's a spell, or the ingredients for one at least which could allow the caster to duplicate a former occurrence of magic."

"What, so, if someone used magic to say turn that book into something then this spell you're talking about could do that again?"

"Precisely or in our case it could reopen the portal Miss Swan used to leave Stoybrooke."

Henry didn't understand why this spell was such a big deal if it was as simple as that, Regina however, did, "However, it would take someone quite powerful to cast a spell like that."

Gold turned to her, shrugging, "When you're the Dark One that isn't an obstacle."

Regina narrowed her eyes. "But you're not."

Belle looked between the two of them before she interceded, "Enough. You see? He's only been working to help us."

"Then why didn't he come forward about this to begin with?" Regina voiced the concerns Henry himself was having. Maybe the spell was less simple than he thought but if Gold really intended for it to help them he could have told them what he was working on from the start.

"I wasn't sure it would work. Aside from the fact that we would need more magic than you yourself possess dearie, the spell also requires certain ingredients."

"Aren't they listed in the book?" Henry asked.

Belle shook her head, "They are but what you can find in the Enchanted Forest differs from what's available to us here in Storybrooke."

"I have some of these in my vault." Regina said as her eyes scanned down the page in front of her. She pointed out the specific items as Gold, both hands placed on his cane, leaned forward to glance at the page.

"There's just one ingredient I'm still missing then." He said after a moment, "It's a rather delicate matter actually." Belle gave her husband a sidelong glance as he spoke.

"What is it?" Regina pressed.

"Dragon blood."

* * *

"No."

David and Snow had since returned, Lily in tow. Henry was now standing amongst them as Lily was sat on the bench in the back room a Gold's shop, her arms crossed while Regina recounted what they wanted from her.

"It's the least you could do since it's your fault Miss Swan is gone in the first place."

Lily straightened. "You think I wanted her to just up and disappear again? That's not what I was bargaining for."

"What were you bargaining for?" Snow asked, frowning.

Lily looked away from them, refusing to give any more answers. She had been talking easily enough, telling them about how she had been hiding Emma in her room at Granny's, how she realized now that Emma had only wanted the dagger so that she could get away from all of them (a move Lily in her current position seemed to want herself).

It was odd for Henry, watching Lily now. This was a woman who had known his mother when she was his age, not only that, but Lily held all the potential for darkness Emma would have naturally had. Henry could almost see Emma sitting there before them; if things had been different would she have turned out this way?

"Look, I gave you a chance once," David began, kneeling down to Lily's eye level, "whether you knew you were or not you helped my daughter run away. Now you can either sit there and do nothing so that none of us get what we want or you can step up and do the right thing now, maybe you'll even find we can help you too."

Lily bit her lip, her gaze shifting back to them, "I want to find my father."

Regina pursed her lips, David nodded, "Fine, you help us find Emma and we'll help you find your father." He held out his hand.

Lily gingerly took it. "How much blood do you actually need?"

* * *

They were standing in the street in the exact spot where Henry had stood hours before with Emma.

Belle and Gold were standing with him, working out the order the components needed to be used in order for the spell to work, "You're sure this is the spot you were standing?" Gold was asking Henry.

He nodded. He could almost perfectly picture his last glance around him when he thought Emma was going to take him away from Storybrooke forever, before Killian arrive. Now, he wasn't so afraid to be going through the portal.

" _It's not safe." Regina wanted Henry to stay behind with his grandmother and baby uncle while she and David went after Emma and Killian._

" _I'm not a child anymore." In the last several weeks Henry had had a number of his own adventures, he wasn't about to be left behind as if he were a baby like Neal._

" _Henry—", Regina started, still not convinced he should come._

" _No. I have to do this, she would do it for me."_

" _She would also want you to be safe, who knows where portal is going to take us?"_

" _She was taking me there before_ for _my safety, no matter where it is I'm sure I'll know where she'll have gone next once we get there."_

That put an end to the debate of whether or not Henry would be coming.

At Henry's approval, Gold with Belle's help began inscribing a symbol into the road around where Henry stood.

Not far off from them, Robin and, oddly enough, Zelena were there now as well. Although Regina alone might not be powerful enough to enact the kind of magic they needed, the combined powers of herself and her sister, Gold revealed might be just enough.

The wicked witch was being carefully watched by everyone there to ensure that she wouldn't try anything to ruin their plan. However, aside from a few impudent remarks and a lot of eye rolling at the measures being taken, she was behaving herself. Henry glanced at Zelena now, her hand absently resting on her still flat stomach, as Robin moved away from her, leaving her in the care of the Charmings, in order to talk to Henry's mother.

"I'm coming with you." He started when he reached Regina, taking her hand.

Regina, who like Henry had been staring at her sister, turned to face him. "You can't."

Robin shook his head, tightening his grip on the hand of his true love as he pleaded, "Regina, if you think I'm just going sit idly by while you enter that portal, you're wrong."

"I'll be fine. You need to stay here—for Roland's sake." Roland was with Granny again that night, the scene here not being a safe place for the young boy. What would happen if _he_ got pulled in the portal too?

"Roland doesn't need me here, you do."

Regina sighed, her eyes sliding from Robin's face to Zelena. "It's not just Roland. Someone needs to stay here who can keep my sister in line, and as much as I hate to point it out it's your child she's having. You need to stay here for the sake of both your children as much as I need to go for mine." Robin looked like he wanted to argue further but Regina wouldn't let him. "I'll be _fine_. And _when_ I get back we can finally start focusing on _our_ future again."

Robin pulled Regina toward him then touching his lips gently to hers once, then kissing her more firmly again, Henry looked away to give his mom her private movement with her true love before they would be separated yet again.

Gold and Belle were almost done. Lily stood awkwardly to the side of them, rubbing her palms together, "Just a couple of drops and then what?"

"Then Regina and Zelena will use their combined magic to ideally re-open the portal Miss Swan used to leave Storybrooke."

"And then how do we get back?" Regina said, slightly flushed from her goodbye with Robin, as she joined them.

"Hopefully with whatever magic Emma was able to use to open the portal in the first place." Belle answered, although Henry wasn't sure she was sure that plan would work.

He however, knew how they would do it, "Merlin will help us."

His mother's gaze shifted to him, her hands resting on her hips, "Henry, we don't even know that this portal will take us to Camelot. Emma could've gone anywhere."

"Have faith mom." The wizard's words to Henry, his encouragement that they would be able to work it all out, save Emma, that they had the means to do were giving Henry his hope and courage now.

"Everything ready?" David asked, coming up to the group. While Snow White would be staying behind with her still young son, David on the other hand was determined to aid his grandson in rescuing his daughter.

"I believe so, if Lily is ready to do her part."

Lily rolled her eyes, taking the knife from his outstretched hand. She grimaced as she slid the blade down the palm of her hand, allowing the drops of blood that immediately began flowing to splatter along the design Gold had inscribed in the street. When he motioned for her to stop, she welcomed the cloth Snow offered her and pressed it tightly to her wounded hand as she moved out of the way.

Regina and Zelena both closed their eyes and from their outstretched palms, Henry saw the harsh glow of magic break out. Seeing the two women working together, combining the magic they had both been trained by Rumpelstiltskin to use, it was easier to see their resemblance. Although not obviously similar in appearance, they shared a certain decorum, a confidence in their stance that Henry imagined must be part of what Cora gifted her daughters with, along with their magic.

For all the dislike between them, the combined energy of their powers was something more than Henry had ever seen, granted he was often not present when either of his mothers fought the various monsters in town with their magic. Within a few seconds, the air around them began to swirl, just as it had the last time Henry had stood on the street. Clouds gathered above them, the air itself seemed to come alive with magi, and this time Henry saw the portal open.

Both his mother and her sister dropped their arms, their magic having done its work. Robin took Zelena, who looked a little more tired now than before, by the arm and pulled her away from the scene although his eyes never left Regina's. Regina for her part, stood by Henry and when David motioned them, they leapt into the swirling vortex without looking back.

* * *

 **A/N: Yay for a long chapter? Although, I know it was kind of a whirlwind. I'm so sorry this chapter took longer than I ever thought it would, this past week has just been incredibly busy! (But can we talk about that promo?! September 27** **th** **can't come soon enough.)**

 **Things are definitely picking up in this chapter, I've always thought everything suddenly begins to conveniently work itself out for the heroes right before the end (but maybe that's just me). There's still a couple chapters to go though and we still have to see what's going on for Emma and Killian right now (I can tell you it's not going smoothly where they're at) but we're almost there!**

 **Thank you so much for reading, I know I always say it but I really do mean it every time!**


	27. Chapter 27

**I do not own Once Upon a Time!**

* * *

Killian hit the ground hard on his side. _Why do I always end up following Emma or her boy across the realms_ , he wondered to himself, heaving a breathe, and checking himself for signs of injury.

"Emma?" He called once he got his bearing in order. Killian was sure he had felt his hand on her shoulder when he had separated her from Henry before the portal had opened up. With any luck, Henry was safe back in Storybrooke right now and it wouldn't be long before the heroes would be on their trail.

He had never expected to see Emma and Henry when he turned the corner. After picking up a quick meal at Granny's Killian had been heading back to the library when he saw them, poor Henry looked like he didn't know what he should do. The boy shouldn't have had to face his mother for the first time like that, Killian had seen Emma three times since she had disappeared that first night and even he couldn't bear it.

Thinking of Emma reminded him that she wasn't right next to him, meaning either she landed farther off or woken before him and was lurking about this place. Either way, he wasn't quite sure where she was.

He wasn't quite sure where _he_ was.

The place appeared to be some sort of cave, the rounded ceiling and hard rock ground at least gave him the inclination to believe so, however, along the foot of the walls of the cave he noticed a lining of some type of gem or jewel which even now reflected a small amount of light along the cave's ground.

He was just rubbing some of the crystal between his fingers to determine its nature when he heard her growl, "What did you think you were doing?"

A force behind him shoved him against the wall, he fell back onto the ground, but quickly got back up, turning to face her, his arm raised, "Easy there, love."

Emma looked more furious than he had ever seen her, she narrowed her eyes at him and clenching her jaw she raised her arm and he flew back against the opposite wall of the cave. This time, her magic kept him there, pressed hard against the rock. As he recovered his breath he rasped, "Playing rough, are we?"

"You ruined everything." The force holding him against the wall tightened and Killian sucked in a sharp breathe. He shouldn't have goaded her. He knew that never worked.

"Emma this isn't you, love. It's the Dark One's magic it's—" he tried.

Emma cut him off before he could finish, "what? Controlling me? Messing with my head?"

She was mocking him. Emma knew all the ways in which he would try to reason with her and she didn't care. Emma was slipping away from him with every second. She was more like the Dark One he remembered, the one he had faced before in the Enchanted Forest, always mocking, always one step ahead. It hurt him more to see Emma this way than anything else did.

He looked down at the crystal around his feet, "Where are we? I can't imagine you expected to live here with Henry?"

Killian hoped that if he couldn't reason with Emma then at least he could get her talking long enough to figure out where they were or to come up with some type of plan of escape.

Unfortunately, Emma wasn't in the mood for discussion. "If it weren't for you, Henry would be here right now."

"You honestly think he would go along with all this? Abandon his family? You must not know your boy."

"Henry would come to my way of thinking eventually."

"Which is what?"

Emma turned away from him, running a hand through her hair, "I don't have to answer to you."

Killian tried again to pull himself free of the wall but it was no use, Emma wasn't letting up. He watched her now standing away from him. She looked tense and impatient, as if she were waiting for something, but he didn't know what.

"If you're going to keep me here, you can at least tell me what's going on."

"I could just kill you." Her voice was quieter, less agitated than before. He desperately wanted to know what was going on in her head, what the darkness was telling her.

"Why haven't you then?" It was a stupid thing to ask but then anything that got her talking to him was worth asking.

 _And she's already ripped out my heart,_ he thought bitterly. Every moment he saw her like this, the Dark One, she was tearing his heart out and crushing it before him.

"I don't know." She turned then, so he could see her face again, and leaned against the opposite wall of the cave, "Maybe I'm just waiting for the right moment."

"What moment would that be?"

Emma seemed to ignore his question, glancing around at the cave walls she continued, "I might just leave you here, after I'm done. It'd almost be justice."

That was the moment Killian realized that this wasn't any ordinary cave in some obscure realm. _This_ was the place where she had gone. This dusty, empty cavern was where she must have spent those weeks after her disappearance. This was the place that Emma Swan, the savior, became the Dark One.

He couldn't imagine how alone she must've felt here, lost in this place, not knowing how long it would be until her family found her. And they hadn't found her, she had found them after she had found her own way out. Killian wondered how she had spent her days here, with only herself for companionship, only the darkness creeping up inside of her.

"We spent weeks looking for you, Emma."

"Stop lying."

"I'm not lying to you, love."

"That can't be true because if it was, you would have _found_ me." She was getting upset again. "I waited for you, for my parents, for _anybody_ , I waited and waited and when no one showed up, I realized what I should have known all along but I just—I didn't want to believe. The only person I can trust in this world is myself."

When he didn't say anything, she took a shaky breathe before continuing, "This power that you all want to get rid of, it's my strength. For once in my life, I feel completely in control and I'm not going to let you or my parents or anybody take that away from me."

"If that's what you believe then Henry will never understand you." For a second, he worried he had gone too far. That this might be the moment she actually decided to kill him—a decision he knew there would be no going back from for either of them.

However, he was saved from whatever Emma might've done by the appearance of an old woman coming up behind Emma from what must be the direction of the cave's entrance.

"Sounds like there some fighting going on back here. How lovely." The woman spoke, her voice was high and shrill and there was something dark in her eyes, something Killian couldn't quite explain, that made him want to get as far away from her as possible.

"Madam Mim." Emma revealed her name as she turned from Killian to face the woman.

The name startled him, as he remembered the woman as the same mentioned by Merlin. This Madam Mim was the reason the Dark One was created, to keep the magic out of her hands and now here it was, in Emma, standing right before her. Killian felt his heart racing, if this woman was so dangerous not even Merlin could stop her, what chance did he have?

"What a dashing gentleman your son is, Emma. He looks positively scrumptious." Madam Mim said as she approached them. Once she was close enough, she reached out her arm to lift his chin with her hand, forcing him to face her.

"That's not Henry." Emma muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and letting out a deep breathe.

Madam Mim looked him up and down once before she removed her hand. "What a shame."

"I need to go back for him." Emma pressed.

Madam Mim turned back toward her. "And you will, once I get what I want you can go wherever you like. You do have it, don't you?"

Emma hesitated. "You swear once I give this to you, I'm free?"

Killian wasn't sure what she meant or what Emma was planning on giving Mim. However, whatever it was if Merlin's story was true then it couldn't be good. "Emma what're you giving her?"

She ignored him. "You won't use it. You'll open another portal and I can go back to my son."

Madam Mim smiled. "Of course, dear. That's what I said isn't it?"

Emma reached for something at her side, when her hand came back up Killian realized it was her dagger that they were negotiating over. If Emma gave Madam Mim the dagger then she would subject to the woman's control and it would give Madam Mim access to the power she had long desired. If Merlin believed that the power must be kept away from her then Emma's actions not only put herself at risk but the whole of the realm.

Madam Mim's smile grew when she saw the dagger and Killian could no longer keep silent, "Emma, don't do it. Don't give her the dagger, she wants the magic for herself!"

"He's lying Emma." Madam Mim persuaded.

"She's the one who's lying, Emma you can't do this!"

Emma gave him one glance before she ran her fingers once over the name—her name—on the dagger. With that final second of hesitation, she strode over to Madam Mim and placed it in the old woman's out-stretched hands.

Killian was crushed. He knew now that they were in over their heads and they needed help now. He could only pray that Henry and the others had found some way to reach them and were close at hand.

"Do you know how long I've waited for this? _Merlin_ thought he could beat me but you know, I'm the greatest." Madam Mim let out a cackle. "I'm afraid however, in order for me to get what I want I'll have to destroy you."

Emma furrowed her brow and took a step back away from the old woman. Unfortunately, Mim stood between Emma and the exit to the cave so all she could do was head farther into what seemed to be a one way cavern. Killian pulled against the magic holding him back but even now, Emma was still keeping him against the wall and out of the way. There was nothing he could but watch.

"Destroy me?"

"You see, dear, the magic tied to his dagger belongs to me. If I'm going to get it, you're going to have to go."

It was worse than Killian thought, Madam Mim didn't just want the dagger to control Emma, she wanted to take it from her, and if the Apprentice was right before then forcing the magic out of Emma would only lead to her death.

Emma raised her hands in what looked like an attempt to knock Madam Mim away, but the old women held up the dagger and Emma's magic, the magic of the dagger, couldn't touch her.

Madam Mim closed her eyes, holding the dagger out tightly gripped between her hands. Emma seemed to think if she could move fast enough she could get the dagger away from her, or Killian supposed, she might be thinking to at least get out of the cave while the woman was distracted. Before she could make a move, Madam Mim began muttering odd words under her breathe and the dagger began to glow.

Emma crumpled to the ground.

"No!" Killian pulled against the force holding him back to his surprise was able to pull himself off the wall. That could only mean that Mim's spell was working and that Emma was losing her magic—and her life.

He rushed to her immobile form, lifting her into his arms, he was glad to find her heart was still beating although at very rapid rate. Her face contorted and he wondered how much pain she was experiencing.

"Emma, love, please." his right hand ran along her jaw as he shifted his gaze to Madam Mim, "What are you doing to her?"

"Quiet boy, I'll deal with you next."

* * *

 **A/N: Ahhh! I'm so excited to finally be posting this chapter! Only 2-3 more chapters to go but I've had these ones in my head for a while so I hope you like where this is going!** **Thank you so much for all the follows/favorites/reviews I've been getting, but most of all thank you for reading!**


	28. Chapter 28

**I own nothing!**

* * *

They were surrounded.

Men in chainmail had drawn swords, the clanging of steel and metal ringing as they came out of the portal, all pointed at Henry, Regina, and David.

"Emma's friends?" David murmured to them, eyes glancing around for an escape or plan.

"Most likely." Regina muttered in reply, Henry saw her raise her hands, no doubt about to use magic on the men, when one head of red hair in particular caught his eye.

"No!" He yelled, before his mother and grandfather could do anything. The men surrounding them immediately tensed at the commotion but none made a move to harm them.

The circle parted and Henry saw, just as he had thought, Sir Kay step forward between the men.

"What business do you have here?" He said in the same pompous tone Henry remembered. The Kay standing before him, although still recognizable from the last time Henry had been in Camelot, was a slightly altered version of the man Henry remembered. This Kay, looked several years older, though he was far from being old the signs of future wrinkles were starting to appear, and what had once been the remnants of boyish fat had become hard muscle. However, the bright red hair was still the same and so was the haughty expression on his face.

"Sir Kay." Henry addressed him and saw the man furrow his brow at Henry's familiarity.

"Have we met before?" Instead of the familiarity reminding Kay of who he was, as Henry had hoped, it seemed to confuse him even more and the knight tensed, prepared to take in the group.

"Yes," Henry rushed to say, "although I have feeling you wouldn't believe me if I explained. We need to see Merlin."

The last time Henry had been taken in by Kay, he had led them to the wizard. Henry's hope was that if Sir Kay was here, then Merlin would not be far off.

"Why d'you need to see _that_ old geezer?"

"It's a matter of life and death."

Sir Kay seemed to be weighing Henry's words, judging how much he thought he could trust him. The knights surrounding them had yet to lower their weapons and Henry's mother and grandfather were still tensely waiting to defend themselves should they need to.

Finally, Kay lifted his hand and his men stood down, David relaxed when he saw this, as did Regina, although she was hesitant to lower her hands while still surrounded.

"The castle's not far, we can take you there—and to the wizard." With another flick of his hand, the men surrounding them opened the gap between them enough to allow them to follow Kay when he turned to head back to the guard's horses.

"Have you seen a woman in these parts, Sir Kay? She would be traveling with a dark haired man most likely." David asked as they mounted horses Sir Kay directed them towards, him on one and Regina and Henry sharing another. Henry imagined that a few of the knights would be surprised to find themselves reduced to foot soldiers for them.

"No woman, just you lot."

David and Regina shared a glance. They had been betting on following the portal to Emma's location, that they might be within reach of Merlin was a pleasant surprise but if Emma wasn't here that still left them to question where she—and Killian—could be.

As they rode away down what Henry assumed to be the same dirt road as before, his mother's adept talent with the horse they were riding quietly surprised him. He couldn't imagine she had ridden many horses in the last twenty years, except perhaps in their brief year back in the Enchanted Forest, however, she took to it like a person remembering how to ride their bike.

"When you lived in the Enchanted Forest, how often did you ride?" He asked her, turning his head slightly behind him so she could hear.

Regina seemed surprised he had asked, although his family's lives in the Enchanted Forest fascinated Henry, he got most of his knowledge from either his book or his grandparents. His mother's rough history meant they usually didn't speak about her time there.

"I used to ride every day—and then Daniel…and then I didn't want to anymore." Her love of horses would always be connected to the stable boy she had lost. Henry wondered how many other small things his adoptive mother no longer did because they reminded her too much of her past.

"Maybe when we get back, you could take me riding one day?" Since he had brought Emma into his life, Henry knew his adoptive mother was always looking for a way to bond with him. Operation Mongoose had been the part of that, now maybe they could have this too.

Regina let out a breathe behind him, "I would love that, Henry."

* * *

The castle had also changed when they finally came upon it a short ride later. As they passed through the iron gate, Henry noticed that while before the castle had been a dismal, looming presence on the cliff, now it was alive with people gossiping, exchanging goods, and gawking at the knights with Henry and his family as they passed by.

Henry was pleased that at least this time he wouldn't be pit stopping in the dungeon cells to see if _they_ had changed.

Kay halted them as they reached what appeared to be the castle sables, dismounting, and handing the reigns of his horse to the stable hand.

They followed Kay out away from the stables and through the courtyard into the castle itself. The last time Henry had gone to Merlin's study he had been following the wizard himself from the dungeon and so as they turned down corridors and went up flights of stairs Henry was just as lost as his mother and grandfather.

Finally, Kay stopped in front of the familiar door, pounding on it with his fist.

The door swung open from the inside with no one there. This did not seem to bother Sir Kay as he strode into the room, Henry, Regina, and David a few steps behind him.

As it turns out, Merlin was just pouring a cup of tea when they entered. He turned to greet them as they approached, "Ah, Kay. I've just poured a cup of tea, would you like some, I'm trying a new blend—they call it 'Early Grey' after someone or other" he took a small sip, immediately spiting it back into the cup, "nasty stuff, but I hear it's quite popular."

Kay ignored his babble, "The boy here say he's got urgent news for you."

Merlin suddenly seemed to see them standing behind the knight, "Oh yes! Of course!" Putting his teacup down, he came over to stand before Henry as Sir Kay left them alone with the wizard. "You must be Henry."

Henry was only slightly surprised that Merlin, like Kay didn't seem to remember him. He had thought that perhaps the wizard would have some connection the book Henry and Killian had traveled within and that he would know about their adventure. "That's right. We've met once before."

Merlin shook his head, "No my boy, you have met me once before, but I have yet to meet you until now."

"So you do know about what happened in the book." Then, Henry wasn't entirely wrong in his suspicions.

"Well, I did create it." Merlin turned from Henry to glance at both Regina and David who were standing wearily on either side of him. "Prince Charming and the evil Queen, who would've thought _you'd_ be traveling together!"

Merlin chuckled to himself, before returning to his table—still topped with the messy pile of papers and books Henry remembered. David followed him, "From what I've heard, we need you to save my daughter."

Merlin took another sip of his earl grey, this time managing to swallow it. "I'm afraid that is incorrect, you need me to destroy the Dark One."

"But that's—"

"Not what you were expecting to hear? I know. I believe my apprentice told you there were only two ways to remove the darkness from your daughter."

"We're not going to stab her with the dagger." David said firmly. Henry would have to agree, stabbing Emma with the dagger meant killing her, and then all this would be for nothing.

"What's the other way?" Regina asked.

"The most powerful magic of all, true love's kiss." It wasn't an unexpected answer although Henry had mixed feelings on its meaning. On the one hand, the wizard's response meant they had a chance at saving Emma—in fact, suddenly Henry was relieved that Killian, whom Henry knew loved Emma, was with his mom. On the other hand, however, Emma hadn't exactly been herself since becoming the Dark One. The only person she seemed to care about at all was—Henry.

Henry had in his life shared two true love's kisses, between both of his mothers. They all knew true love wasn't limited to two people in love, that it could just as easily be the true love of a parent to their child. They also all knew, from the experience of Henry's own grandparents, that for true love's to work both parties must remember how they feel and Emma certainly didn't feel much love for anyone. Except her son, who wasn't the one with her right now.

"Okay, so we get to my mom and I give her true love's kiss and then you destroy darkness." Henry laid out what he had been thinking for them to hear.

"I suppose it might go that way." Merlin's responses had gotten no less cryptic since Henry had met him.

"Which brings us to our second reason for coming here," David pressed, "we followed Emma here through a portal."

Merlin's entire demeanor seemed to change. At once, he slammed down his teacup, the contents splashing out and onto the surround papers but Merlin seemed not to notice. Instead, he ran a hand over his head, looking between them. "Emma is herein Camelot? Why didn't you _start_ with that?"

The wizard immediately started shewing them from around the table into the open space of the room.

"We don't know where she is, that's why we came looking for you." Regina said.

Merlin paused. "But you followed her portal?"

"Yes, but Emma was nowhere to be seen."

"That's not good. Very not good." Merlin was muttering. He continued moving about, situating them all in the only clear space in the center of the room.

As this went on, Henry finally asked the wizard, "What are you doing?"

"I'm afraid this has all gotten a great deal more complicated. I have a feeling I know where Emma is right now."

"You do?" David questioned, crossing his arms.

"Yes and it's not good. We'll have to go to the crystal caves." Merlin was rolling up his sleeves, preparing to perform magic.

"The crystal caves?" Regina took Henry by the shoulders, pulling him close to her, expecting another transporting spell.

"That madam has gone far enough!" Merlin shouted as a swirl of magic swallowed them up.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm not actually sure how much riding Regina does on the show outside of those early flashbacks with young Snow and Daniel but when she got on the horse with Henry I just felt like they needed to have a mother-son moment. I also feel like older Kay is just so done with Merlin's antics, like he gets this all the time. But that's just me.**

 **In response to drakonpie250: I am currently not planning a sequel to this story, I've more intended it as a distraction from the hiatus and as that is coming to an end so is this.**

 **Thank you to those of you who reviewed the last chapter (I'm always very excited when I get a comment from a new reader and I can't tell you how much I appreciate those of you who always review, even though I'm terrible at responding...sorry!)**

 **And as always, thank you thank you thank you simply for reading! 3**


	29. Chapter 29

**I own nothing!**

* * *

" _Quiet boy, I'll deal with you next_."

Every fiber of Killian's being was screaming to have at the witch. She was hurting Emma, had already hurt her, and if he didn't stop her then before he knew it Emma would be dead, another person he loved dead in his arms.

If only he could reach the witch without her noticing him, but there was no way. The light reflecting throughout the cave would illuminate him no matter what he tried. And from her position, the witch was directly across from him and could see his every move. Then he thought perhaps there was something Emma could do to save herself. However, she didn't seem very much in control of herself let alone her magic right then.

Before Killian had a chance to test any of these theories, he was saved but a loud boom that reverberated through the cave and the appearance of a large cloud of smoke.

Killian was happily surprised to see Henry, David, and Regina along with Merlin standing before him.

"Mim!"

"Oh, oh Merlin! You're just in time!" Madam Mim seemed the least bit startled by the heroes' arrival. In fact, she seemed almost pleased to see Merlin.

"Mom!" Henry rushed over to where Killian was on the ground, still holding on to Emma, Regina close behind her son.

Merlin noticed them as well but more importantly, he noticed the dagger still clutched in Madam Mim's hands. He quickly strode past Killian to the old enchantress, pointing at the dagger as he said, "Just what do you think you're doing here, madam?"

Mim only clutched the dagger tighter, "I'm taking back what's mine and just what do you think you're going to do about it?"

Killian wasn't sure what the wizard could do about it at this point. It seemed Madam Mim was already too far along in her spell to be stopped.

"What's wrong with her?" David asked, running a hand over his daughter's forehead. His question pulled Killian's focus back to the scene in front of him.

"The enchantress is using the dagger to steal her magic."

"But that means—"

"She's dying."

* * *

Madam Mim wasn't just taking the powers of the Dark One from Emma, if she wanted to do that then all she would need to do is stab Henry' mother and become the dark one herself. However, Mim wanted the magic contained by the dagger without the limitations Merlin had placed on it and the only way to get that was to rip the magic from its binding, an act that would destroy the Dark One in order to free the magic.

Henry couldn't believe what he was hearing. _She's dying?_ That wasn't possible. That couldn't be what was happening, he wouldn't accept it.

They were here. They finally had everything they needed to save his mom.

"What if I gave her true love's kiss?" He heard himself saying, Regina and David immediately looking to him.

"What?" Killian's gaze shifted between them.

"Merlin told us," David started, "the only way to save Emma from the darkness was true love's kiss."

"And I've done it before." Henry looked down at his biological mother, her face twitched in pain.

"I'll _tell_ you what I'm going to do about it!" Merlin's shouting could be heard behind them. The wizard reached out a hand, seemingly to grab the dagger from Madam Mim's grasp, however, before he could touch it darkness shout out from the dagger with enough force to throw him back.

Henry covered his eyes with his arm and the black, darkness shot out around the cave, the tendrils disrupting the reflection of light.

"You see? There's nothing you can do now. I'm going to win!" Madam Mim's voice cut through the darkness.

Henry heard Emma's breath hitch.

This was his moment. He could save the day, save his mom, be the hero.

Henry leaned down to kiss his mother's forehead, thinking about how much she meant to him, every moment from when he first found her in Boston to eating the poisoned apple tart—knowing he was saving her and everyone then too—to their year in New York together, Henry focused on how much he loved his mom.

Regina stopped him before his lips touched her forehead. "Wait." She murmured.

"For what?"

"Right now, we don't know what will happen if you do that. Emma's magic could go straight to Mim, and then what?"

She had a point. Henry pulled back but took Emma's hand in his own, squeezing gently. _I'm not giving up on you._

"Hey you old bat!" Henry hadn't seen David move from Emma, but when he looked up his grandfather had his arms raised and was approaching the enchantress. "Leave my daughter alone."

"The prince wants to play too, is that it?" Madam Mim laughed as she shifted the dagger in her hands and at once the dark magic pooling around it shot out at David.

"Grandpa!" Henry yelled as he saw him knocked against the cave wall. Once he hit the ground, his grandfather remained motionless except for the rising and falling of his chest breathing.

What Madam Mim hadn't noticed, what none of them had, while watching David's display was that Merlin had made it back up onto his feet and with a whip of his arm shot a burst of light magic square into Madam Mim's back.

The force of the blast knocked the witch forward into the hilt of the Dark One's dagger in her hands. The same dark tendrils which she had used to knock Merlin, and David, off their feet now turned against her. The dagger sprung from her hands and landed on the ground halfway between where she stood and where Emma was lying in Killian's arms.

The dark magic released by Madam Mim's spell swirled around it like a small tornado collapsing upon itself until finally it sunk back into the dagger. _Emma Swan_ once again, clearly visible along the blade.

Regina sprang forward from behind Henry to grab the dagger before the witch had a chance to get back onto her feet.

Looking down, Henry sees Emma's eyes pop open, wild, and searching all around her. She immediately pulls out of Killian's grasp, separating herself from their small group. Henry can't focus on her though when they hear Madam Mim groan from across the cavern.

"Should we worry about her?" Henry asked, looking at Merlin who is peering over the witch.

"Ah, she'll be fine. Nothing a little rest can't cure," then looking around the cave he added, "and perhaps a little bit of sunshine."

Madam Mim groaned loader at his words.

With that settled, Regina moved from the center of the cavern over to help David sit up, his hand rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm good." Henry's grandfather groaned, then noticing the dagger in Regina's hand adds, "Is Emma okay?"

They all look back at where Emma had pressed herself against the opposite wall not moments before however, all they find is empty space.

"Where is Miss Swan?"

* * *

Killian finds Emma sitting on a boulder outside, not far from the cave's entrance.

"And here I thought you'd have run halfway across the realm." He said as he approached her.

Emma didn't look at him, her gaze remained fixed on the horizon. "How do you know I'm not planning on it?"

"If you were, then you would've been long gone by now, Swan."

"I won't leave Henry."

"After everything that happened in there, is Henry still your only reason to stay?"

"After everything? She finally glanced up at him, when he could see her face he realized that the dark patches on her skin—which sickly reminded him of Rumpelstiltskin in the Enchanted Forest had spread even more since he had first noticed them. "Nothing's changed. The heroes just saved the world, not me."

How could she think that? "They're only here for you."

She turned her face back to the sunset. "Emma," he started again, "I know what you said in the cave, I know how alone you must've felt here for all those weeks, and how it made you think nobody cared for you."

"You can't—possibly—imagine—" She finally said, before she did take off from the boulder, heading away from the mouth of the cave.

"Emma, I love you." He didn't mean for it to come out then. What Killian had wanted to say was something reassuring about how much they all cared about her, how long they had spent looking for her, and how they wouldn't give up on her. However, he had wanted to say those words to Emma even before she had ever mentioned them to him.

Before, he was scared that they would scare her off and she would shut him out again. Then, she was gone and the dreams he had of saying how he felt to her kept him up at night. So much so, that he couldn't stop himself when he finally after all this time had her alone again, and _not_ trying to kill him.

Emma stopped walking when the words left his mouth. She turned back to him, "Killian I—"

"When I met you I was living my life in the darkness. The only things that mattered were my ship and my revenge. But you made me want to be a better man, a hero again. You helped me see the light." If he was ever going to get through to her, he had the feeling this was his last chance. With every word, he was moving toward her, their eye locked. "And I can help you."

Before she could react, he leaned forward pressing his lips to hers as his good hand came up to cup her cheek.

At first he felt her try to jerk back, reminding him of the last time he had tried to kiss Emma like this, at her door in New York City. She wasn't ready to admit her feeling then and he never would have tried it except that he was just so relieved to see her again after thinking he never would.

But now, she had admitted how she felt about him and he knew no matter what the darkness was doing inside her head, that those feelings couldn't just go away.

For all the awful things she had said, the times she had tried to hurt or even kill him, even when he himself wondered how close she was to being completely surrendered to the darkness, she hadn't yet. Somewhere inside of her, Emma was still fighting to be good, the proof of it was on her very skin.

He couldn't describe what he felt when his lips touched hers again for the first time in weeks. It was like he was taking his first breath of fresh air since she had disappeared into the darkness. Emma consumed his very being and after her initial reluctance, he could feel her relax into him.

His left arm tightened around her waist, pulling her more firmly against him. He was aware of her hands coming up to rest on his arms.

As Killian finally, slowly, pulled away he watched Emma closely. Her hand went up to her lip, tracing it lightly with her finger.

"Emma, look I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have done that," he began expecting her immediate reaction like the last time he had attempted to kiss her like that.

"No, no I'm sorry," she surprised him by saying, "I feel—"

She cut herself off, closing her eyes tightly and letting out a breath.

"Are you okay, love?" He asked, she hasn't moved away from him like he expected but her eyes are wide when she opens them glancing all around her and finally landing on his face.

"Yeah, I think—I think I'm better than okay." Emma finally replied, looking up at him.

Killian can feel his heart start to race at her response. "Are you—was that—?"

Before she can answer him, they were cut off by the pickup of the wind and the whipping sound of dark magic surrounding them.

Emma grabbed his hand and together they darted back toward the direction of the cave and Merlin.

The darkness followed them, the tendrils of it whipping out, reaching for Emma. Killian's grip tightened on her hand, as one tendril gets particularly close.

Luckily for them, Merlin with Henry and the others behind him, is already racing out of the cave when they reach its entrance.

"This time I'll finish you off once and for all!" Merlin called to the darkness as it swirled up above them.

The wizard held his arms up once more as he had in the cave and muttered words under his breath that Killian could neither hear nor understand. However, a great spurt of light erupted from his hands engulfing corning the darkness from all sides. The two forces swirled around each other pushing back and forth until finally, Merlin clenched his hands and the light magic tunneled around the darkness, compressing it until it burst into tiny particles within the air.

"Mom, are you alright?" Henry called once the darkness had dissipated, racing over to Emma.

Killian saw Emma turn when she heard him before she left Killian's side to pull Henry into a tight hug, all the while murmuring, "Oh my god, Henry. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything."

Henry squeezed her back, the relief he was feeling evident on his face as his gripped his biological mother. "I'm just glad you're okay."

David came up behind the two, placing his hand on Emma's shoulder.

Regina also from behind them held up the dagger, now nameless and useless, in her hands. "Is it gone?"

Merlin, dusting himself off and nodding, answered, "The Dark One is no more."

Killian felt a range of emotions upon hearing this, relief for one. This was not how he ever thought he would rid the world of the Dark One when he initially set out to avenge Milah's death however, there is weight lifted from his heart knowing that the evil being which killed his first love and possessed his second is gone from this world.

He was also desperate to talk to Emma. He wanted to pull her aside to discuss what had happened between them, what it meant.

Emma glanced up at him as she pulled away from Henry.

"Now that that's done, how about I get you all back to your own realm?" Merlin was still chattering on, he began rolling up his sleeves again as he strode back into the caves.

The others followed Merlin back inside but Killian saw Emma hang back and waited with her.

"Thank you." She said, turning to him when they were finally alone.

"For what?" He shrugged one shoulder, of course he figured he knew what she meant but he wanted to hear her say it first.

Emma smiled before she leaned up to kiss him once gently. "I love you."

Hearing her say it now, under no pretense of impending doom, just the two of them, was better than anything he could have wanted.

Well maybe almost anything.

"I love you too." He told her before he took her into his arms again.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm so sorry, I meant for this chapter to go up earlier but this has been one of the most insanely busy weeks I've had in a while. Regardless, I am planning to post one last chapter (a sort epilogue/tying of loose ends) before season five premieres on Sunday!**

 **(I might also edit this chapter a little bit later since I didn't have much time to review it in order to get it out quickly for you!)**

 **Thank you all so much for the reviews/favorites/follows, and especially just for reading! You all have no idea how much I appreciate every single one of you!**


	30. Chapter 30

**I own nothing!**

* * *

"Where are you off to?" Mary Margaret asked, appearing behind Emma with Neal swaddled in her arms. Emma could faintly smell her mother's cooking wafting in the air of the downstairs of their apartment. David wad due home for lunch any minute.

"I'm going to meet Killian and Henry for lunch." Emma said as she pulled her red jacket on over her white t-shirt, she was happy this morning thinking how she could wear t-shirts without worrying about the strange discoloration of her skin—it had disappeared along with her dark magic.

"Oh!" Emma's mother smiled knowingly, "well then, have fun."

Emma rolled her eyes as she stepped out the front door. No one had been more excited in the reveal of how Emma was released from the Dark One's curse than her mother. When they had stepped through Merlin's doorway portal back onto the streets of Storybrooke, Mary Margaret was there to greet them cautiously at first but then with a warm, tight hug when she saw the newly bare dagger.

As she walked down the street toward Granny's Emma would stop to wave hello to Leroy and Dr. Hopper among other townspeople whom she had grown to care about since she first arrived in Storybrooke years ago. Her short stint as the Dark One had caused many of the townspeople to be wary of her when they had heard she returned. However, Emma was working to help clear up and rebuild the area of town she had wrecked and she had made a very public apology to everyone at Granny's the first night they were back.

Regina still had the dagger locked away in her vault. It was useless now that it was no longer tied to the dark magic but after causing trouble for hundreds of years, no one felt it was right to just get rid of it or leave it for someone to unknowingly find. Maybe they were all a little worried that it still carried some dark power, either way it was safely stowed away for now.

When Emma came upon Granny's Diner Ruby was walking out the door carrying a bag of trash for the dumpster. She paused when she saw Emma approach, then smiled, and nodded her head in greeting.

"Do you want any help with that?" Emma asked her. When she had first gotten back Ruby had been one of the first people with whom she had made sure to apologize. She still wasn't sure why as the Dark One she had taken out so much of her anger on her friend except that Ruby was always there—was always helping her family and as both Emma and Mary Margaret's close friend the Darkness must have wanted Emma to get rid of her.

That was the reason she had come up with most of the actions she had taken in the last few weeks. When her family and friends had asked, she told them that coming out from the Dark One's influence was like waking up with a bad migraine. For every decision she had made in the last few weeks she had known somewhere inside of her that it wasn't something she would ordinarily do, that it wasn't even something she believed, but the Darkness wanted her to believe she was all alone in the world, that it was the only answer to her problems.

And she had let it do that to her, she had let it creep into her mind and reside there no matter how many times she knew what was happening was wrong.

"No, I've got it but it thanks! You go enjoy your lunch." Ruby smiled at Emma once more before turning around the corner of the building.

Emma was still smiling when she opened the door to enter the diner.

* * *

The door chimes jingled as Regina stepped into the front room of Mr. Gold's shop.

"Regina," Gold said, looking up at the sound of her entrance, "what can I do for you?"

The former evil queen clasped her hands in front of her, looking around the shop—anywhere but at the former Dark One. "I came to apologize."

Gold furrowed his brows, "For what exactly?"

Regina rolled her eyes, "Don't pretend like you don't know. I doubted your motives in helping Emma, I was wrong."

Gold closed the book he had been examining on the counter and smiled at her, "Thank you."

Belle walked in from the back room, pulling her coat on. "Regina," she said looking between the two, "what are you doing here?"

"I just had tell your husband something, I'll be leaving now."

She turned to walk away but Belle called out, "Are you headed toward Robin's camp?"

Regina stopped, "Yes, actually I am."

Belle smiled, "I'm headed the same way, why don't we walk together?"

The librarian kissed her husband's cheek before joining Regina in walking out the door and off in the direction of Storybrooke's clock tower.

After a minute of walking Belle began, "Thank you for coming like that."

Regina was surprised, she didn't think Belle had heard their conversation. "I know what it's like to have everyone doubting you can change."

"It's a difficult transition for him."

"Must be for you too."

"We're trying, that's what's important." Belle paused. Regina was reminded vaguely of Henry, of all the chances he had given her before she actually changed. She actually found herself wanting the former Dark One to truly be reformed at least for his wife's sake. "You and Robin seemed to have worked everything out."

"We're figuring it out as we go along."

"And your sister? How's the baby?"

"Good, as far as we can tell—the baby that is. It's strange, I always thought Henry would be the only child I would raise and now—"

"Now you have a family." Regina wondered how much Belle wanted that for herself.

They stopped when they reached the library, Belle going to unlock the front door, waving goodbye.

"A piece of advice," Regina called to her and Belle turned around, "it'll happen when it's meant to."

Belle smiled and nodded.

Regina headed off toward her family.

* * *

"Hello, love."

"Hi." Emma smiled, leaning up to kiss her true love. _True love_. If anyone had asked her if she believed such a thing could exist before, she would have told them they were crazy. Emma was never one for warm and fuzzy feelings but the way she felt when she was around Killian was safe and whole—it was true love. She couldn't hide from it anymore even if she wanted to, which she definitely didn't.

A groaning noise came from their booth, "Could you guys not do that in front of me?"

Emma laughed at her son who for all his groaning was smiling too, "Sorry, kid."

She slipped easily into the booth next to Killian, across from Henry.

"Mom you should have seen the sunrise this morning, it was amazing!" Henry and Killian had gone sailing early that morning to watch the sunrise, Emma had been invited but opted to sleep in instead.

She laced her fingers on the table with Killian's, while Henry went on about his morning.

However, after a few minutes, glancing back at a woman sitting alone at the counter, Emma murmured, "Hey, could you go ahead and order for me, there's something I've got to go do."

At Killian's nod, she let go of his hand, got up from the booth and walked over to Lily, who gave no inclination of noticing her approach.

Emma's opinion of Lily had changed in the last few weeks. It was true that by helping Emma as the Dark One, Lily had endangered the town and she had only done it for her own gain. However, spending time with Lily again reminded her why they became friends in the first place. Lily had proven in the end that on some level she still cared about Emma as a friend.

And if there was one thing this whole experience taught Emma it was that she shouldn't hold onto her grudges from the past, if Lily was willing to move past their issues then Emma could at least do the same.

"Hi." Emma said cautiously.

Lily looked over at her, one of her hands moving to cover the still healing wound on her other hand. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to say, thank you, for everything did for me." She meant with Lily's role in getting Emma's family to Camelot, but a part of her also meant for being her friend even when she was pushing everyone away.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Lily looked back down at her mug of coffee.

"I'm going to keep my promise to you," Emma pressed, "I'm still going to help you find your father."

"What?"

"I'm pretty good at finding people; it actually runs in my family strangely enough. And I may not be the Dark One anymore but I do know a fairly powerful wizard who might be willing to help."

Now that Merlin no longer had to contain Madam Mim for fear of her getting to the Dark One's magic, he was free to leave Camelot at will and travel the realms himself instead of reading about them in the authors' books. As they left Camelot he had even joked that he thought he might head to Bermuda when they were gone.

"You're serious?"

Emma smiled at her old friend, "I found you, didn't I?"

Lily laughed and smiled back at Emma.

Maybe there was hope for them yet.

"All good?" Killian asked her when she slipped back into the booth.

Emma nodded as she said, "Yeah."

"We ordered you a grilled cheese." Henry said, taking a sip of his—what was undoubtedly—hot chocolate. "With onion rings of course."

Emma smiled, as she looked between Killian and Henry, two boys who she loved, who loved her in return, who knew her Granny's order, who let her sleep in, who found her again and again.

They prattled on about sailing and sunrises and other realms only found in storybooks.

Emma listened and laughed and pictured many more lunches just like this one.

* * *

 **A/N: That's all folks! I hope this story helped you all as much during this hiatus (which will be over in just over 24 hours!) as much as it has helped me!**

 **When I posted that first chapter on May 11** **th** **, I never thought I would be writing this. I thought I would get practically zero views, maybe one or two negative comments, and then take it down. I cannot express how thankful I am for every single person who has read, favorited, followed, or reviewed this story. You guys are the reason I wrote 30 chapters (wow!) when I've never written anything like this before, so thank you!**

 **I want to take a second to shout out to all of my lovely reviewers for this story: PirateEyedSwan, wiccancharmedguy, SunshineWiccanLight, booklover457, ThatSwanQueenShipper, VampiresAreCool, Leddy17, onetreefan, Wandering Lady, EmmaAthena2013, pearlydewdrop, Baibe, Silent Flower (guest), Cassandra Alexis Carter, AFangirlofSorts, whatthemindcreates, Nancy345 (guest), minorshan, SylviaHunterofArtemis, Kiara (guest), BreatingintheSun, Snnow, snoopykid, hey-dairy-queen, Jessica (guest), Ceruleanrainblues, Drowned-dreamer, BetterinTexas, drakonpie250, juliet1023, lonewritertx, stromberg, clara3658, yesiamanowl, Charlie 487, and my numerous unnamed guest reviewers!**

 **Thank you for reading!**


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